Rahu in Scorpio

The dignity question first, because it frames everything else. In the scheme that gives Rahu exaltation in Taurus, Scorpio is its debilitation and Ketu, mirrored, is debilitated in Taurus, so both nodes sit in their weaker signs together. In the other common scheme, which exalts Rahu in Gemini, Scorpio has no special status at all, and some astrologers decline to give the nodes formal dignities in any sign. A careful reader states which view is being used and then moves on to Mars, the sign lord, which matters more in practice. Many modern writers also give Ketu a share in Scorpio's rulership, which adds a further layer to how the axis is read.

Scorpio is a fixed water sign of depth, secrecy, crisis, transformation, research and what lies under the surface. Rahu here is traditionally read as a hunger to know what is hidden: investigation, psychology, occult study, finance of the unseen kind such as insurance and inheritance, and work that requires nerve under pressure. The harder face is suspicion, emotional extremity, and a fascination with intensity for its own sake. The nakshatras vary the tone: the last pada of Vishakha, ruled by Jupiter, keeps a goal in view; Anuradha, ruled by Saturn, turns intensity towards loyalty and organisation; Jyeshtha, ruled by Mercury, adds sharp wit and a sense of seniority or protective responsibility.

Ketu in Taurus at the other end is read as an easy familiarity with comfort, possessions and steady pleasures, perhaps to the point of indifference. The axis is described as a move from what is safe and owned towards what is deep and shared.

A debilitated node, in the schemes that use the term, is not a sentence of hardship, and Rahu in Scorpio predicts nothing about health, accidents, inheritance or relationships. Debilitation describes a planet working against the grain of a sign, which classical texts also allow to be cancelled or modified by the dispositor and by other factors. The reading is shared by a whole cohort, and for one person it depends on the house, Mars and the dasha far more than on the label.