THE SHADOW PLANETS : RAHU & KETU

RAHU ( THE NORTH NODE OF MOON / THE DRAGON'S HEAD )

Rahu and ketu  are not real planets , but still play a very important role in astrology. They are shadow planets and are mathematical points in the sky . They are nodes of the moon and are always 180 degrees apart in every horoscope. They do not own any zodiac sign and give result according to house placement and the sign . They are karmic planets and are polar opposites . Whenever rahu covers the sun , we have the solar eclipse and with moon it is the lunar eclipse. 

Rahu  simply means '" amplification "" , wherever it sits it likes to amplify it suddenly . Thats why it does very well in the 3 , 6, 10 and 11 houses. It tends to make people overindulgent / obsessive  with respect to the house position . e.g. : In the 5th house rahu can make a person obsessed with love & romance. Rahu  also represents unconventional & unorthodox things and thinking, like intercaste marriages and foreign things , taboo breaking paths. It represents a wide range of things , like drugs , over addiction of alcohol , sex , astrology, metaphysics, occultism, witchcraft, cults, skin diseases, executions and epidemics , ginger and garlic , very old people , snakes , magician

mysteries, inventions, scientists, etc . Rahu represents smokiness or illusion , seeing something that does not even exist like hallucinations and delusions. It also depicts strange and weird diseases like chickenpox, schizophrenia, genetic disorders, elephantiasis, unusual skin diseases like leprosy etc. It also represents gambling, digital world and latest technology, worldly affair, electric current, poison and venomous insects and animals ( wasps , bees , snakes, monitor lizards etc) . Airplanes, aviation, pilots and space travel all fall under his influence. 

Rahu is what we are here to achieve and accomplish , it shows our desires and aspirations in this life , so in this way it is a futuristic planet and concentrates on the future. 

Although it does not own any sign , but does very well in mercurial signs like virgo and gemini as mercury is his best friend . Rahu  is more like saturn while kept is more like mars. Thats why we also sometimes consider aquarius as rahu's sign. Its gem is hessonite and day is saturday like saturn , color is also the same ( BLACK AND BLUE ) 

Also rahu represents foreign and exotic things so the ISLAM religion and middle eastern countries come under his domain.

KETU (THE SOUTH NODE OF MOON/DRAGON'S TAIL) 

KETU is just the opposite of rahu . Ketu is a very spiritual planet also it is also malefic like rahu but it represents our past life and things we have already accomplished and we are good at . Eg : a person with kept in 7th house would be very disinterested in marriage and feels quite detached from those things pertaining to the 7th house. ketu represents spiritual enlightenment, electronics , genetics , cats , bankruptcy , underground roots, mystery,  researchers, homeopathy, ayurveda, directionless and lost , assassins, mental illness.

poison, intrigues, magical powers, poverty and mysticism, cats, fire and accidents etc .

Ketu does very well in 3,6 and 11 houses. It is considered strong in pisces , scorpio etc. 

Its gem is cat's eye and metal is lead. Ketu is a headless planet so tends to make a person dull headed and confused. Also it represents phoenix , breaks ,cracks cuts like fractures etc. It is especially affiliated with owl. It works like mars in many aspects. Lord ganesha is associated with ketu like Godess Durga is associated with rahu.

The dasha of Ketu is for  7 years and it is believed  in Vedic astrology that Ketu always has a "sting" in its tail. This means that somehow the end of a Ketu dasha  will be potentially problematic or troublesome. people tend to lose a lot of their wealth in these 7 years because they fail to understand what the planet wants them to do , it wants them to become more spiritual and close to GOD. Ketu wants us to detach ourselves from materialistic things like clothes , shoes , fancy dresses and mobiles etc . It seeks simplicity and higher divine closeness to GOD .