Rahu-Ketu Transit 2026: Rahu in Capricorn, Ketu in Cancer — Dates, Nakshatras and Effects for All 12 Rashis

Rahu enters Capricorn (Makar Rashi) and Ketu enters Cancer (Karka Rashi) on the evening of Saturday 5 December 2026, at 22:32 IST (17:02 UT). They stay on this axis until 24 June 2028, when Rahu drops back into Sagittarius and Ketu into Gemini. That is the answer most people arrive here for. What follows is the part the date alone cannot give you: why some panchangs print a different date, which nakshatras the nodes pass through and when, which eclipses fall on this axis, and what the eighteen months ask of each Moon sign.

All positions in this article are sidereal, computed with the Lahiri ayanamsa.

Why you will see two dates: 25 November and 5 December

Search for this transit and you will find two dates quoted with equal confidence. Neither is a mistake. Rahu and Ketu are not bodies; they are the two points where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's path, and those points wobble. Jyotish has two ways of tracking them.

The mean node smooths the wobble out and gives a steady, retrograde drift of about three arc-minutes a day. Most panchangs in India, and most printed almanacs, use it. By the mean node, Rahu crosses into Capricorn on 5 December 2026 at 22:32 IST.

The true node follows the actual, wobbling position. By the true node Rahu crosses earlier, on 25 November 2026 at 17:46 IST, and the wobble carries it further from the boundary as the weeks pass.

Both are legitimate. The mean node is the convention followed by the majority of the Vedic tradition and by the panchang your family most likely uses; if your astrologer works with the true node, your dates will run ten days earlier throughout this article. The effects described below do not change. Only the calendar edge does.

What this axis means

Rahu and Ketu always sit exactly opposite one another, so a nodal transit is never one event. It is a tension held between two houses of your chart for eighteen months.

Rahu in Capricorn in 2026. Capricorn is Saturn's sign, the sign of hierarchy, institutions, long labour and public standing. Rahu is appetite without a ceiling. When appetite enters the sign of structure, the hunger is for position: promotion, recognition, the corner office, the government post, the title on the door. This is the same placement Rahu held from April 2008 to November 2009 and from September 1989 to April 1991. Those who remember the 2008 window will remember how quickly ambition built on borrowed foundations came apart, and how much was rebuilt in the years after. Rahu in Capricorn rewards those who want status and are willing to earn it the slow way. It unsettles those who want it faster than the structure allows.

Ketu in Cancer in 2026. Cancer belongs to the Moon: home, mother, nourishment, the emotional roots that hold a life in place. Ketu is the planet of release. Ketu in the sign of attachment loosens the grip on exactly the things Cancer holds tightest. For some this arrives as a quiet turn inward, a wish to simplify, an interest in ancestors and lineage and what was actually inherited. For others it arrives as an unsettled home, a parent's health needing attention, or a sudden indifference to comforts that used to matter. Ketu does not take; it stops feeding. What was only habit falls away.

Held together, the axis asks one question for eighteen months: what are you building in the world, and what at home are you neglecting to build it? Every rashi meets that question in a different pair of houses.

The nakshatra timeline

The nodes move backwards through the zodiac, so Rahu enters Capricorn at its last degree and works down toward its first. Each nakshatra it crosses colours the transit differently.

Rahu through Capricorn

Ketu through Cancer

The opening stretch is the sharpest: Rahu in Dhanishta, the drum, ruled by Mars, gives ambition a loud and impatient voice, while Ketu in Ashlesha, the coiled serpent, works on the hidden and the unspoken at home. From April 2027 Rahu moves into Shravana, the nakshatra of listening, ruled by the Moon, and the tone shifts toward learning, reputation and what is heard about you. Ketu's long passage through Pushya, the most nourishing of the nakshatras, is the gentlest part of the transit: release that feels like relief rather than loss. The final months, Rahu in Uttara Ashadha and Ketu in Punarvasu, favour those who finish what they started and return to what was true before the transit began.

If you were born with the Moon in any of these six nakshatras, the nodes cross your natal Moon during this window. Note the dates. That crossing is the single most personal moment of the transit for you.

The eclipses on this axis

Eclipses only occur near the nodes, so every eclipse of the next eighteen months falls in Capricorn or Cancer, or in the signs the Moon reaches opposite them.

• 6 February 2027 — annular solar eclipse, Sun in Capricorn, Dhanishta. The first eclipse at Rahu's new position; whatever Rahu has started to stir in your chart shows its shape here.
• 2 August 2027 — total solar eclipse, Sun in Cancer, Pushya. One of the longest total eclipses of the century, and it falls at Ketu. Matters of home, mother and inheritance come to a head around this date.
• 26 January 2028 — annular solar eclipse, Sun in Capricorn, Shravana.

The lunar eclipses of 2027 are penumbral and faint; the partial lunar eclipse of 12 January 2028 falls in Gemini, in Punarvasu, already pointing at the axis the nodes will move to in June 2028.

How the transit is judged

Gochara (gochar), transit judgement, is read from the Moon sign (your rashi), not the Sun sign of Western newspapers. Count from your Moon sign to Capricorn to find Rahu's house; Ketu's house is always the seventh from it.

The classical gochara chapters give results for the seven grahas and are silent on the nodes. The convention the tradition settled on, and that nearly every panchang follows, is to judge Rahu and Ketu like Saturn: they sit comfortably in the 3rd, 6th and 11th houses from the Moon, and ask for care elsewhere, most of all in the 1st, 7th and 8th. Two further things shape the result. Your Ashtakavarga bindus in Capricorn and Cancer decide how much strength the transit finds to work with, and the dasha you are running decides how much of it you will actually feel. A favourable house under a hostile dasha delivers less; a difficult house during a Jupiter period is cushioned.

Saturn keeps its own timetable through this transit, and several sections below refer to it: Pisces until 3 June 2027, Aries until 20 October 2027, back into Pisces until 23 February 2028, then Aries for good. Where a Saturn date is given for your rashi, that autumn return to Pisces briefly restores the earlier condition.

Not sure of your Moon sign? It is fixed by the Moon's position at the minute of your birth, not by your birthday alone. Your free birth chart on GuruJi.ai gives your rashi, your Moon nakshatra and your running dasha, which is everything you need to read your section below.

Effects for all 12 rashis

Mesha (Aries) — Rahu in the 10th, Ketu in the 4th

The transit lands squarely on the career-and-home axis. Rahu in the 10th is a powerful placement for professional ambition: visibility, a demanding new role, work that pulls you into the public eye. Ketu in the 4th pays for it. Home life thins, property matters need patience, and a parent may need more of you than your diary allows. Guard against the Rahu habit of accepting every opportunity; the 10th house rewards the one you finish. Saturn adds weight from 3 June 2027, when your Sade Sati moves from its first phase into its peak. Build carefully in 2027; you will be standing on it in 2028.

Vrishabha (Taurus) — Rahu in the 9th, Ketu in the 3rd

A restless, questioning eighteen months. Rahu in the 9th stirs the search for a bigger framework: foreign study, a new teacher, travel that changes how you think, a distance opening between you and the beliefs you were raised in. Rahu here can also strain the relationship with your father or with authority figures. Ketu in the 3rd is one of the easier nodal placements: courage comes quietly, effort that used to feel forced becomes natural, and a sibling relationship may simplify. Your Sade Sati begins on 3 June 2027; the second half of this transit and the first half of your Saturn cycle overlap, so treat 2027 as a year to set foundations, not to gamble.

Mithuna (Gemini) — Rahu in the 8th, Ketu in the 2nd

This is one of the more demanding placements and it deserves honesty rather than reassurance. Rahu in the 8th brings sudden change: matters of joint finance, inheritance, insurance, other people's money and hidden things coming to light. Health needs proper attention rather than optimism, particularly around chronic conditions. It is also, for those drawn that way, a strong window for deep research, the occult sciences and transformation of the inner kind. Ketu in the 2nd detaches you from accumulated wealth and from family speech; be careful what you say at the dinner table, and keep a reserve. You are not under Sade Sati or dhaiya during this transit, which is a genuine relief; Saturn is not pressing at the same time.

Karka (Cancer) — Ketu on your Moon, Rahu in the 7th

Ketu sits on your rashi itself, which makes this the most personal transit in the zodiac for you. The first effect is inward: a wish to withdraw, a lower appetite for the social round, a feeling of being slightly outside your own life. Handled well this is a spiritual gift, the kind of period in which meditation, pilgrimage and honest self-examination take root. Handled badly it reads as apathy and confusion. Rahu in the 7th turns partnership into the arena: an intense new relationship, an existing one under pressure, or a business partner whose appetite outruns yours. Do not sign long partnerships on impulse between December 2026 and April 2027, while Rahu is in Dhanishta and Ketu in Ashlesha. Your health, especially digestion and sleep, follows your emotional state closely this period; tend to the mind and the body will follow.

Simha (Leo) — Rahu in the 6th, Ketu in the 12th

Rahu in the 6th is a favourable placement by the classical convention and it shows. Competitors lose interest, old debts get settled, a long dispute finds its end, and work that involves service, health or litigation goes well. Rahu here gives the stamina to win an attrition contest. Ketu in the 12th loosens the grip on expenditure and sleep in equal measure; it favours foreign residence, retreat and charity, and it can bring a period of unusually vivid dreams. The heavier weight for you is elsewhere: Saturn sits in the 8th from your Moon until 3 June 2027, the Ashtama Shani period. Until then the nodes help while Saturn tests. From June 2027 Saturn moves off and the transit turns clearly in your favour.

Kanya (Virgo) — Rahu in the 5th, Ketu in the 11th

The 5th house holds children, intelligence, romance and speculation, and Rahu in it inflates all four. Study takes on an obsessive quality, which suits examinations and research; romance becomes intense and unconventional; and speculation becomes very tempting, which is exactly when it should be avoided. If there are children, their needs and their ambitions take more of your attention than usual. Ketu in the 11th is gentle: gains arrive without much chasing, and friendships that were only convenient fall away without drama. One caution ahead: from 3 June 2027 Saturn enters Aries, the 8th from your Moon, and Ashtama Shani begins for you. The second half of this transit carries more weight than the first.

Tula (Libra) — Rahu in the 4th, Ketu in the 10th

For you the axis is reversed from Aries: home is where the hunger is, and career is where the release comes. Rahu in the 4th drives property, vehicles, renovation, relocation and everything to do with the mother and the household. It can also bring restlessness at home that nothing quite settles; the wish for a bigger house is a Rahu wish. Ketu in the 10th produces a curious indifference to career status just as you may be expected to want it. Some Libra natives change direction entirely under this placement; many simply stop performing ambition for an audience and do the work quietly. That is not a loss. Neither Sade Sati nor dhaiya touches you in this window, so the nodes are the main weather.

Vrishchika (Scorpio) — Rahu in the 3rd, Ketu in the 9th

The 3rd house is one of Rahu's happiest transit positions. Courage, initiative, communication, short journeys and younger siblings all gain. New ventures started here tend to have force behind them, and writers, marketers, traders and anyone who lives by their own effort will find the wind at their back. Ketu in the 9th is subtler. Faith is tested rather than lost: a guru disappoints, a belief is examined, a pilgrimage is made for reasons you cannot fully explain. Relations with the father may cool or grow more distant. Take the energy Rahu gives your hands and let Ketu do its quiet work on your philosophy; they are not in conflict.

Dhanu (Sagittarius) — Rahu in the 2nd, Ketu in the 8th

Rahu in the 2nd works on wealth, family and speech. Income can rise sharply, often through unconventional means or foreign connections, and just as easily be spent. Family life becomes more demanding, and words carry further than intended; the 2nd house under Rahu is where careless speech does its damage. Ketu in the 8th asks for the same care with the sudden that the 8th always asks, but it is the one placement in that house the tradition treats more kindly than Rahu's: Ketu is at home with the hidden, and it gives a natural aptitude for research, healing and the deeper sciences. The difficult stretch for you is the first six months, when Saturn is still in the 4th from your Moon, Kantaka Shani, until 3 June 2027. Hold your finances steady through that period; after June the pressure eases considerably.

Makara (Capricorn) — Rahu on your Moon, Ketu in the 7th

Rahu on the rashi itself is the mirror of Cancer's experience. Where Cancer feels Ketu's withdrawal, you feel Rahu's amplification: of ambition, of identity, of appetite, and of restlessness. This can be a period of remarkable drive and reinvention. It can also produce anxiety, poor sleep, and a nagging sense that nothing is enough. Ketu in the 7th brings detachment in marriage and partnership; the spouse or partner may seem distant, or may themselves turn toward spiritual matters. Partnerships that rest on shared purpose survive this well; those that rest on habit do not. From 3 June 2027 Saturn enters Aries, the 4th from your Moon, and Kantaka Shani adds pressure at home. Of all twelve rashis, Makara carries the most concentrated version of this transit. Its remedies matter most for you.

Kumbha (Aquarius) — Rahu in the 12th, Ketu in the 6th

The nodes have just left your sign, and the relief is real. Rahu in the 12th raises expenditure, foreign involvement, hospital visits for others and a tendency to wakefulness; it also favours settling abroad, spiritual retreat and any work done far from home. Ketu in the 6th is favourable: illnesses that lingered clear, enemies lose the taste for the fight, and debts are quietly discharged. The larger news is Saturn. Your Sade Sati ends on 3 June 2027 when Saturn leaves Pisces, and although Saturn returns to Pisces briefly from 20 October 2027 to 23 February 2028, the worst is behind you. The second half of 2027 is your recovery.

Meena (Pisces) — Rahu in the 11th, Ketu in the 5th

Rahu in the 11th is, by convention, the best of all nodal transit positions: gains, income, networks, elder siblings and the fulfilment of long-held wishes. Opportunities come through friends, associations and people met far outside your usual circle. Ketu in the 5th asks for a different kind of attention. Children may be more distant or more spiritually inclined; romance loses some of its charge; study takes an introspective turn; and speculation, however tempting under Rahu's 11th-house promises, should be left alone. Your Sade Sati is in its peak phase until 3 June 2027 and its final phase after that. Rahu's gains during this transit are Saturn's reward for what you endured since 2025.

If you are running a Rahu or Ketu dasha

A transit of the nodes is felt most by those already living under them. If your Vimshottari dasha or antardasha is Rahu's, this transit lays its themes over your daily life rather than passing at a distance, and the eighteen months can define the whole period. The same holds for a Ketu dasha and the Cancer side of the axis. Read our full guide to Rahu Mahadasha alongside this article if that is your situation; the two together give a far clearer picture than either alone.

Remedies for the transit

The nodes are not appeased by fear. They respond to discipline and to service, which is why the traditional remedies are quiet ones.

• For Rahu: the Rahu beej mantra, Om Bhram Bhreem Bhroum Sah Rahave Namah, on Saturdays; the worship of Durga; and the giving of black sesame, urad dal or a dark blanket to someone who needs it. Coconut offered in flowing water is the older custom. Above all, avoid the shortcut Rahu is offering you this period. That is the real remedy.
• For Ketu: the Ketu beej mantra, Om Sram Sreem Sroum Sah Ketave Namah; the worship of Ganesha, the deity the tradition pairs with Ketu; the feeding and care of dogs; and the giving of a blanket or a woollen garment to the elderly. Ketu's nature is release, so the remedy that works best is the one that costs you an attachment.
• For the axis together: the Durga Saptashati or the Hanuman Chalisa on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and a period of deliberate simplicity at home while ambition runs high at work.

Our general guide to remedies for difficult planets explains the reasoning behind each of these.

Get the dates that matter for your chart

Every date in this article is a general one. The dates that matter for you are the days the nodes cross your natal Moon, aspect your ascendant, or activate a planet in your chart, and those depend on the degree you were born with, not just the sign. GuruJi.ai Transit Alerts watches Rahu, Ketu, Saturn and Jupiter against your own birth chart and tells you in advance when each crossing falls, so you are not learning about a transit from a headline after it has already happened.

The larger view

Rahu and Ketu return to the Capricorn-Cancer axis every eighteen and a half years. Think back to 2008 and 2009, and to 1989 to 1991, and ask what you were building in the world in those years and what at home you were letting slide. The question will be the same this time. The answer, for most people, is better the second or third time it is asked.

Article by the GuruJi Jyotish Team. Positions computed sidereally with the Lahiri ayanamsa; transit dates are given for the mean node, with the true-node date noted where it differs.