Transits — Rahu & Ketu
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Transits — Rahu & Ketu — how long the cycle is, how it is counted from your Moon sign, and when it returns to where it began.
0What gochar is
Gochar is where the grahas are today, read against where they were when you were born. Rahu and Ketu takes about 18.6 years to go round the whole zodiac and roughly 1.5 years in each sign — always retrograde and always opposite each other, so they move backwards through the signs together.
How it is counted
A transit is counted from the Moon sign, not the ascendant — this is the point most people get wrong, and it is why a prediction read off the Sun sign does not match. The graha's return to its own birth position falls around age 19, 37, 56, and because the nodes move backwards those returns come sooner than the count suggests.
The cycle
- One full round
- 18.6 years
- Time in one sign
- about 1.5 years
- Returns to its birth place at
- age 19, 37, 56
- Counted from
- the Moon sign
If you want to act on this
A remedy in jyotish is an act, not a purchase — a fast, a mantra, a donation on the right weekday. Where a formal ritual is called for, these are the three that apply: a puja performed on your behalf, a chadhawa offered at the temple, or an abhimantrit article energised with the mantra of the planet involved.
Not sure what this means for your own chart?
Ask the astrologer — it reads your chart, not a general rule, and answers in plain words.
Common questions
- How long does this transit take?
- Gochar is where the grahas are today, read against where they were when you were born. Rahu and Ketu takes about 18.6 years to go round the whole zodiac and roughly 1.5 years in each sign — always retrograde and always opposite each other, so they move backwards through the signs together.
- Is a transit read from the Moon sign or the ascendant?
- A transit is counted from the Moon sign, not the ascendant — this is the point most people get wrong, and it is why a prediction read off the Sun sign does not match. The graha's return to its own birth position falls around age 19, 37, 56, and because the nodes move backwards those returns come sooner than the count suggests.