Ketu in Taurus

This is the placement where the disagreement between authorities matters most. In the scheme found in many editions of the Parashari tradition, Rahu is exalted in Taurus and Ketu in Scorpio, which makes Taurus Ketu's sign of debilitation. Other respected schools put Ketu's exaltation in Sagittarius and its debilitation in Gemini, and on that reading Taurus carries no special weight at all. A careful reader names the school being used rather than presenting either as settled fact.

Whatever the label, the descriptive reading is fairly consistent. Ketu in an earth sign of possession is traditionally read as a loosened grip on material security: indifference to accumulation, plain tastes, or a pattern of acquiring things and then losing interest in them. Since Taurus is also the sign of the second house of the natural zodiac, some readers link it to speech and family values, and describe a person who speaks sparingly or holds the inherited family script at a distance. The gentler face of this is contentment with little and a freedom from the anxiety of having. The harder face is neglect of practical needs, or a restless dissatisfaction even when things are comfortable. Rahu in Scorpio then supplies the opposite pull: an appetite for depth, secrets, transformation and the shared or hidden resources of others.

The nakshatra refines the theme. In the last three padas of Krittika, ruled by the Sun, Ketu is read as sharp and self-correcting. In Rohini, the Moon's nakshatra and the most fertile in the zodiac, the detachment sits beside a strong love of beauty, which can produce an artist who does not cling to the work. In the first half of Mrigashira, ruled by Mars, Ketu becomes a seeker, always looking past what is in hand.

Calling Ketu debilitated in Taurus, on the schools that do, is a statement about how the node expresses itself, not a forecast of poverty, loss or a difficult family. It does not decide anything about money, marriage or health. Venus, as sign lord, carries much of the outcome: a well-placed Venus is read as steadying this Ketu, and a planet conjunct Ketu changes the reading more than the sign does.