Rahu in the 1st house
The results given by Rahu in the first house of the horoscope
Rahu in the 1st house. This placement is usually a sign of a person inclined towards the spiritual, having strong feelings and strong sexual impulses, having more than one marriage, well known, but eccentric, or else inconstant in character. At times he may become critical and act destructively. (Tom Hopke)
Rahu in the first house and Ketu in the seventh house: Ketu in the 7th house shows that in a past life the person cared greatly about family well-being. In this life such a person strives in every way to realise himself, to assert himself and to receive recognition from those around him. They are so carried away by self-realisation that family life recedes into the background. Very rarely do they manage to create a happy family. In this race for recognition they sometimes look aggressive. In society and in partnership relations they want to demonstrate their personal exceptionality and to promote their own terms.
Rahu in any house strengthens and increases the indications of that house. The first house is early childhood. Rahu is death. Therefore, Rahu in the 1st house brings a sickly childhood or death in childhood. Garga Muni writes that if a child has Rahu in the 1st house, and the Moon in the 6th or 9th house, he will die within 20 days after birth. In the opinion of many sages, a bad placement of Rahu and the Moon gives death in childhood (balarishta yoga).
A person with Rahu in the 1st house is very proud, stubborn, does not see his own mistakes and blames others for his failures. This is a malevolent person who holds grievances inside and wants to take revenge. Often the person becomes tall or stout. The person is very brisk, active, and he is constantly in motion. Thanks to his purposefulness the person attains his goal. But their success constantly fluctuates and rarely remains permanent. They must be flexible, so as to learn to hear the advice of other people. They develop a feeling that the people who are around them take away their energy. Many ancient sages considered Rahu in the 1st house an unfavourable place for health and longevity. Rahu will greatly damage the indications of the first house, if the first house is under the aspect of Saturn or Mars. (Mahesh Dharmadasa)
Rahu in the 1st house
Fame, eccentricity, inconstancy, several marriages, criticality, strong feelings, many desires, sexuality. (Indubala)
Rahu in the 1st house: frail health, protruding teeth, short in stature, talkative, selfish, unprincipled, with a firm character, quick-witted, a leader in the family, a deep thinker. Engages in work that he considers beneath his dignity; faces a multitude of family intrigues. Acquisitive, inclined towards immoral deeds, unable to resist earthly pleasures. (Shri Govind Swarup Agarwal)
Rahu in the 1st, Ketu in the 7th house: the karmic task
This placement is considered fortunate in the sense that it allows the person to project his personality successfully onto the surrounding world. This happens thanks to the placement of Rahu in the 1st house, which is just as good as the placement of Rahu in the 9th and 10th houses.
Rahu in the 1st house gives great significance in the person's life to the indications of the 1st house: appearance, constitution, health, vitality, self-esteem, career, fame, recognition. If Rahu is exactly in the degree of the Ascendant and close to it, then this makes the person's appearance or the individuality itself quite non-standard. Usually such people are tall and have a commanding streak, which those around them do not always like. Often they have inflated self-esteem, passing into pride, which quite often prompts them to act very rashly.
If Rahu manifests its higher vibrations in this placement, this often gives the person an inclination towards self-analysis and an understanding of the nature of the personality. Therefore many philosophers and saints have such a placement of Rahu. They understand well the psychology of the masses and the tendencies of the development of society.
Often this placement of Rahu makes the person a scientist, an inventor, a pioneer, an adventurer, a traveller. Most of all in life independence is dear to them. Rahu in the 1st house makes the person hardy and strong, which sometimes prompts the person to take risks or to engage in some extreme kind of sport.
Such people may remain alone for a long time, and this does not weigh on them. Their individuality does not depend on social interactions.
The presence of Ketu in the 7th house hinders the building of any long-term relationships whatsoever. This is not a very good placement for a happy family life, except in cases where other indications in the chart override this. This placement often gives confirmed bachelors or good brahmacharis.
One can get along with such people only if they are given enough space where they could feel a little independent. It cannot be said that such people do not know how to conduct themselves. In fact they are quite humble and pleasant in company, except in cases where Rahu-Ketu are strongly spoiled by bad aspects.
They always express their feelings and thoughts frankly and are quite consistent in their attitude to life. Their friends can only be those who understand their inner intentions, and there are not many such. Although in ordinary life they are quite shy, they speak in public with ease.
This placement of Rahu-Ketu requires a balance between the indications of the 1st and 7th houses. Such people need to shift their attention from themselves onto others, in order to understand them better and to communicate with them better.
Usually it is difficult for such people to understand why one should pay so much attention and spend so much energy on relations with the external world, when the whole universe is contained within one's own “I”. Often this is the reason why they pay no attention at all to the external world, although more developed souls do not make this mistake, understanding that self-realisation has no meaning if it is not shared with those around.
Examples: Krishnamurti, Nietzsche.
“Bhrigu Sutra” 8.1-4
If Rahu or Ketu are in the 1st house, the wife of the owner of the horoscope will bear a stillborn child. In the case of the placement of these planets in Aries, Taurus or Cancer the master of the horoscope will be compassionate, merciful and attached to enjoyments. A person in whose horoscope Rahu or Ketu are aspected by a malefic planet will have marks on his face, possibly traces of smallpox.
Other opinions concerning Rahu in the 1st house:
“Phaladipika”: Rahu in the 1st house — a short life, wealth, might. Illnesses in the upper part of the body.
“Chamatkar Chintamani”: Rahu in the 1st house — the owner of the horoscope will defeat his enemies, but will remain under the influence of other people. He will have many wives, but will remain unattached to them.
Note: Bhrigu Muni gives the same characteristics for the placement of Rahu and Ketu in various houses. His opinion is based on the fact that these planets are always in the seventh house from each other and both exert an influence on the house. However the other classical texts, apart from the “Brihat Jataka” and the “Saravali”, which do not describe the results of the placement of the shadow planets in the houses of the horoscope, hold a different opinion.
We should like to add several important remarks concerning the placement of Rahu and Ketu in the houses of the horoscope. Concerning the characteristics of these planets there are three main opinions: 1) they act as the lord of the sign that they occupy, 2) their nature is like that of Mars and Saturn, and also 3) the view of Kalidasa given below. An experienced astrologer intuitively understands what influences the shadow planets conduct when he analyses a horoscope or draws up forecasts.
Relying on the famous classical work of Kalidasa, the “Uttara Kalamrita”, it may be said that, being shadow planets, these planets are not regarded as the lords of any houses or signs. If Rahu and Ketu are in conjunction (in the same sign) with a planet, then they take on its qualities, become conductors of its energy, and in their periods, or bhuktis, act like that planet. When the shadow planets do not enter into a conjunction — they give the results of the planet aspecting them. And only when Rahu and Ketu are neither joined nor aspected by planets do they act as the lord of the sign in which they are placed.
If one of the two nodes and the lord of a triad are placed in conjunction in the 9th or 10th houses or if one of them is in the 9th, and the other in the 10th, a favourable yoga is formed, which will bring prosperity to the owner of the horoscope. If at the same time a malefic planet enters into a conjunction with or aspects one of the shadow planets, then the bhukti [sub-period] of the yoga-karaka will prove unfavourable.
And a last remark. Rahu and Ketu become beneficial when they occupy the positions of a triad or of a kendra from the lagna. The shadow planets also prove beneficial when they are joined with the lords of a house of a triad or of a quadrant. But if at the same time the lord of the 9th house also owns the 8th (in the case of Gemini rising), or the 12th (in the case of Libra rising), and also if the lords of the 9th or 10th houses are joined with the lords of the 8th and 12th houses, the beneficial results of the yoga are lost.
“Bhrigu Sutra” with commentaries by Indubala
«Jataka Bharanam» 17.87
The results of the placement of Rahu in the 1st house
In the case of the placement of Rahu in the Lagna (the 1st Bhava) the person's character is immoral (vicious), he deceives the people close to him, suffers from some illness of the brain, is exceedingly sensual (voluptuous), victorious in disputes and sickly.
Comments: Rahu in the Lagna Bhava during its Dasha or Antardasha will give the person pain in the body. Such a person has no moral doubts or hesitations; he uses the things and wealth of others without any feeling of moral compunction. He does not tolerate injustice towards himself. He is exceedingly clever (cunning) in the accomplishment of his goals.