ACVA Journal 1:2 Page 10

Mental Astrological Calculations Part 1

Charles Drutman
Give most astrologers from India your birth data and in a minute theyll have worked out
your Vedic chart in their heads. Its amazing till you realize how easy it is to do!

Introduction
In this electronic age when powerful computers are becoming standard household items, it may seem a
bit out of place to talk about mental astrological calculations. Where is the need? There are three basic
answers to this question. First, not everyone has a computer, and if you have one, it may not always be
easily accessible. Second, it is good to periodically check your software to make sure it is giving the right
answer and that the birth data was entered correctly. Third, by doing some of the calculations yourself, you
establish a closer connection between yourself and the astrology you are doing. This intimacy between
student (and no matter how advanced we are, we are all students of nature) and the subject of study is
important for developing the deeper intuition that allows that wonderful experience of insight to occur.
Always relying on something external (like a computer) prevents that intimacy and connection from
developing.
From a psychological point of view, it is very satisfying to dictate and analyze a chart using the only real
personal computer, namely, your brain. This satisfaction is all part of the process of becoming a better
astrologer.

Discussion
The spirit of this article is to present methods for estimating various astrological quantities quickly, so we
will not be concerned about exactitudes. If we come close to the answer we will consider this successful.
The most basic part of a horoscope is the lagna (ascendant), and to calculate the lagna we use the fact that
lagna and Sun are coincident at sunrise. The difference between Vedic sunrise (center of Sun's disk on the
horizon) and civil sunrise (upper limb of Sun's disk on the horizon) is not important for this estimation
process. The first step then is to find the position of the Sun, and then use this to estimate the lagna.
To find the position of Sun on a given day, we use the following rule:

Sun Rule

1. Assign the number 1 to January, 2 to February, and so on up to 12 for December.

2. If the day of the month is less than 15, leave the number from Step 1 as is; if not, add 1.
3. Now add 8.
4. If the number exceeds 12, subtract 12; otherwise leave as is.

The number arrived at in Step 4 will, about 90% of the time, correspond to the sign occupied by Sun,
using the Lahiri ayanamsa. The signs are numbered as 1 for Aries, 2 for Taurus, and so on, up to 12 for
Pisces. Note that this numbering is different than that used by some ephermides from India, which start at 0
for Aries and end at 11 for Pisces.
Let's take an example: May 23, 1923. May is the 5th month, so the result of Step 1 is 5. Twenty-three
exceeds 15, so we add 1 to 5 and get 6. Adding 8 gives 14. Since 14 is greater than 12, we subtract 12 from
14 and get 2. The second sign is Taurus, so on May 23, 1923, we estimate Sun to be in Taurus. On May 23,
1923, Sun was 8-9% into Taurus, depending on the exact time of the day and location.
This procedure is based on the fact that Sun changes signs near the middle of the month. The 90%
accuracy is arrived at as the actual day can be in the 14-17 range, and this is about 10% of a month.
 If the day happens to be in this range, we can use the rule that 14 and 15 will often be the last 1-2%, and
16 and 17 the first 1-2% of the sign arrived at by the above rule.
To make the estimate more precise, we now add Step 5 to approximate Sun's degree:

5. If the day is less than 15, add 15 to the day to get the approximate degree.
If the day exceeds 15, subtract 15 from the day.

Applying this to the above example, 23 exceeds 15, so we subtract 15 from 23 and get 8, which agrees
with the actual value.
Having found the position of Sun, we now know that the lagna at sunrise on May 23, 1923 was Taurus.
May 23 is well into spring, so we know that sunrise is somewhere between 5:00 AM and 6:00 AM for many
locations on earth. How do we know this? From experience. At some point we have to rely on our memory
to provide reference points about when certain events occur. In spring and summer our experience tells us
that sunrise is early (before 6:00 AM) and in fall and winter, it is late (6:30 - 7:30 AM). Depending on how
good our memory is, it is easy to make an error of 1/2 hour, but remember, we are trying to estimate the
lagna, not calculate it exactly.
So, if lagna at sunrise is 8% (from Step 5), and we want to know the lagna at 2:00 PM, we can estimate it
by using the following rule:
 TABLE 1
Exact Lagna On May 23, 1923 At 2:00 PM For Various Locations

Location Lagna Error (Degrees)

Peking, China Virgo 4 12' 11
New Delhi, India Virgo 2 29' 9
London, England Leo 26 36' 4
New York, New York Leo 26 21' 3
Cleveland, Ohio Virgo 2 13' 9
Seattle, Washington Virgo 5 51' 13

Lagna Rule

1. Close to the spring equinox (around March 21) and fall equinox (around September 21), the lagna
moves at the rate of 1 sign every 2 hours (1% every 4 minutes).
2. During late fall/winter, the lagna moves faster during the day, and slower during the night.
3. During late spring/summer, the lagna moves slower during the day, and faster during the night.

The basis for these statements is that sunset occurs when Sun is very close to the descendant, or 180%
from the sunrise point. Since daylight is less during the late fall/winter timeframe, the lagna needs to move
faster than average in order to cover that 180% path. During spring/summer, daylight is longer, and the
lagna moves slower since it has more time to cover the same 180%. For mid-latitude regions, daylight varies
from 9-12 hours, so the lagna speed varies from 1% every 3 minutes (1 sign every 1.5 hours) during late
fall/winter, and 1% every 5 minutes (1 sign every 2.5 hours) during late spring/summer.
In the above example, lagna at sunrise is 8% Taurus. May 23 is late spring, so we will take sunrise at
5:00 AM. Since 2:00 PM is during the day, we will use the slower lagna speed of 1 sign every 2.5 hours.
One sign every 2.5 hours is the same as .4 sign/hour. Since 2:00 PM is 9 hours later than our postulated 5:00
AM sunrise, this corresponds to 9 x .4 = 3.6 signs, which, in the spirit of approximation, we will round off to
3.5. Three point five signs means 3 signs + 15%. Adding 3 signs to Taurus gives Leo, and adding 15% to
8% gives 23%, which is still in Leo, so we estimate the lagna at 2:00 PM to be 23% Leo. How does this
compare with the actual lagna? The answer depends somewhat on where we are, and Table 1 gives the lagna
for a few widely separated locations.
Again, in the spirit of approximation the error is rounded to the nearest degree. The average error is less
than 10%, and in all cases the actual lagna was greater than our estimate. This means the lagna was moving
a bit faster than our estimate.
Note a very important point about these calculations: they are only weakly dependent on location. The
difference in lagna from Peking to New York is not great: each citys 2:00 PM local time is less than 10%. It
is this weak dependence that allows this method to work. Almost the entire difference can be accounted for
by the actual differences in sunrise times, which is 40 minutes (and 40/4 = 10).

Slow Moving Grahas

Now that we have lagna and Sun calculated, we can ask how much further can we go. The faster moving
grahas (Moon, Mars, Mercury, and Venus) are difficult to estimate since they move quickly. The faster the
motion, the more reference points we need, and now it becomes an issue of memory. Those astrologers who
have spent many years running many charts often find they unconsciously assimilate the planetary positions.
If they make a mistake (say by using the eastern time zone for Los Angeles), they immediately see that the
chart "looks wrong". This is especially true for charts during the late 1940's and early 1950's, which
corresponded to the "baby boom"; chances are that an astrologer doing U.S. charts has done many during
that time period, and probably has developed an intuition for these charts.
If nothing else, an astrologer should be familiar with their own chart, and this serves as a reference point.
We use the following facts to first estimate the positions of the slow-moving grahas:

1. On the average, Jupiter moves 1 sign/year.

2. On the average, Saturn moves 1 sign/2.5 years.
3. On the average, Rahu and Ketu move 1 sign every 1.5 years.
The phrase on the average has been emphasized. To gain a better appreciation of this statement, look at
Jupiter in 1954; it started out in the latter part of Taurus (retrograde) and entered Cancer in the early fall.
Nevertheless, the above estimates are useful for determining approximate positions. As an extreme
example, May 23 1923 is 30 years and 7 months earlier than January, 1954. Now, 30 years is 24 + 6 years,
and 24 years is two full cycles of Jupiter, so all we have to consider is the 6 years and 7 months. Six years
corresponds to 6 signs, and 7 months is roughly 1/2 a sign, so we estimate that in May, 1923, Jupiter was 6
1/2 signs before Taurus, or Scorpio. The actual sign is Libra. While the answer was off by a sign, notice
that we got that close by taking the position of Jupiter over 30 years later! Starting with a closer reference
point often gives a better estimate.
Again, the issue comes down to having a few reference points, or times when the positions of the slower
moving grahas are known (remembered). From these reference points, positions at other times can be
estimated to within a sign.
This still leaves us with how to handle the fast moving grahas. We can use the following rules to focus
the problem down a bit:

1. Mercury is always within 1 sign of Sun.

2. Venus is always within 2 signs of Sun.

We can further refine these rules by stating that Mercury is always within 29% of Sun, and Venus is
always within 42% of Sun. For May 23, 1923, this gives Mercury somewhere between 9% Aries and 7%
Gemini, and Venus between 27% Pisces and 7% Cancer. The actual positions (at 2:00 PM) were Mercury at
17% Taurus and Venus at 9% Aries.
Having obtained an approximate birth chart, we can then refine the positions by asking questions about
the person's life. For example, if we are not sure if Mercury is in the 1st or 12th house, and we determine the
person is an accomplished
speaker, we can place Mercury in the 1st with some degree of confidence.

Conclusion
With a little bit of practice, it is possible to estimate the positions of lagna, Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, and
Rahu/Ketu, as well as the rough positions of Mercury and Venus. The ability to do these mental calculations
establishes a deeper connection with the astrology we are doing, and encourages the "aha" experience that
comes when we suddenly have a new insight or see something did not quite notice before. This is a
necessary part of becoming a good astrologer.
In order to develop a better intuitive feel for the motions of the grahas, especially the lagna, I run the
Gochara module from the Visual Jyotish software package (indeed, this is why it was developed in the first
place). If you set the time step to two hours or less, the lagna is displayed as a solid circle. Watch how the
lagna moves at different speeds during the day and night at different times of the year. Watch how the
grahas speed up and slow down and go retrograde, and how long it takes, with all this cosmic dancing, to
traverse a sign. Run these simulations many times and just sit back and let it all sink in.
Finally, after becoming totally immersed in your studies, go outside and just watch the stars and planets.
You will become a better astrologer for it.
 In the next issue we will continue our discussion of mental chart calculations, and present a very compact
ephemeris that will allow you to mentally calculate a chart for any time, as well as the occurrence of
eclipses.
__________
Charles Drutman is a physicist who has worked in areas ranging from high energy laser propagation to
environmental simulation. He is the developer of the highly successful Visual Jyotish computer program as
well as co-developer of the Pocket Jyotish Master. He can be reached at 1 Ford Avenue, Lynnfield, MA
01940, 617/334-4967.