Glossary · graha
Rahu
Also written the north lunar node · the dragon’s head
Rahu is not a body but a point — the north node of the moon, where the moon’s path crosses the ecliptic, one of the two spots where eclipses happen. Jyotish treats it as a shadow graha (chhaya graha), and reads it as desire without limit: ambition, obsession, hunger for what is unfamiliar, foreign or taboo.
Rahu amplifies and distorts whatever it touches — it can bring sudden rise and sudden fall, fascination, and the pull of the new. It is always exactly opposite Ketu, its tail. The daily window named for it, Rahu Kaal, is traditionally kept clear of new beginnings.
Rahu rules the nakshatras Ardra, Swati and Shatabhisha.
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