Introduction
The Moon's path crosses the Sun's path (the ecliptic) at two points. Where the Moon heads south is Ketu; the northern point is Rahu. In every chart Ketu is exactly 180° from Rahu, in the seventh sign from it. Eclipses happen near these points.
Ketu also moves backwards and spends about a year and a half in a sign. The ePandit engine uses the mean node; software using the true node may differ by up to about a degree and a half.
What it signifies
Tradition associates Ketu with:
- spirituality, meditation and the inner search
- going deep into one thing
- old knowledge, research and fine understanding
- letting go, detachment and simplicity
For work, tradition associates Ketu with fields that involve research, deep expertise, fine technical work or spiritual service.
These are tendencies, not settled facts. The house, the sign and Ketu's companions give the meaning together.
Signs and dignity, in plain words
Ketu is a point, not a body, so in our engine it owns no sign. Texts and traditions hold different views on its exaltation and debilitation, so ePandit gives no dignity table for Ketu.
Tradition holds that Ketu takes on the colour of the lord of the sign it sits in and of the planets it sits with. So to read Ketu, one looks at that sign's lord and its companions.
Shadbala and this planet, in plain words
Shadbala covers seven planets, the Sun to Saturn. B. V. Raman's method in Graha and Bhava Balas, which ePandit follows, gives Rahu and Ketu no strength, because they are points, not bodies. So Ketu has no shadbala ratio.
For the other planets we show one ratio: total shadbala ÷ Raman's traditional minimum. Above 1 means the planet has more than the traditional minimum; below 1 says nothing bad, only that other factors lead in that chart.
If Ketu is missing from the shadbala table, that is not a gap or an error; it is the method. Ketu is read through its sign lord, its house and the dasha.
Mahadasha
In Vimshottari, Ketu's mahadasha lasts 7 years. Tradition holds that looking inward, spirituality, simplicity and depth in a subject come forward; tradition links it with resetting priorities.
Ketu takes the colour of its sign lord, so the real colour of this dasha is read from that lord, Ketu's house and the antardasha running inside it. Every mahadasha holds nine antardashas.
Faith
If you wish, you can chant Ketu's name-mantra 11 or 108 times in the morning, with a calm mind:
ॐ केतवे नमः (Om Ketave Namaḥ) (planet name-mantra: tradition)
You may feed rotis to street dogs. (folk belief, optional)
This is a matter of faith, not a condition. No costly remedy is needed.