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About Me
  I am an Investment banker on Wall St. I do Equity Research or research into
the ‘real’ value of company’s stocks. Previously I have a BS & MS in Mechanical
Engineering and MBA in Finance in terms of educational qualifications.
I was born in India and came to the US shores in 2003, since when I have embarked
a journey full of experiences including education and jobs. Through years of
research in science and finance, a common thread in my passions has been research into Vedic astrology.
Idea of this blog is to dispel some rumors regarding astrology. Understanding what it is and what it isn’t. My
intention is to share some knowledge that I have amassed over the last 21 years of study and research into this
beautiful topic. I am by training and basic nature a person who believes in science and facts and would not take
anything presented to me prima facie, unless I can see the rationality behind it. The reason I wouldn’t believe in
astrology without understanding it was also the reason I didn’t dispel it completely without researching into it.
After all, how can I be sure of its non existence when I am oblivious to the subject?
My journey of astrology began in 1993. I was very good in school, especially in Mathematics and Science.
Numbers come naturally to me and I took keen interest in anything involving them. I was a curious reader since
a young age and skeptical of astrology as a subject. I wanted to dispel the belief my mother had in astrology and
for the same reason, decided to read up on the subject to be able to have an argument against it’s basic premises.
As a child with strong interests in maths, I was an ardent fan of the famous ‘human computer’ – the
late Shakuntala Devi. Surprised to find a book by her on astrology (“Astrology For You”) I enthusiastically read
and re-read the book. It was a simple treatise, yet elegantly written by someone whose skills were in the arena I
loved so much – Mathematics. Realizing how heavy and mathematically involved the astrology field was from
her book (especially before computers made the calculation part less cumbersome), I naturally wanted to read
more into it, now that I knew a legendary person of mathematics researched into it.
Looking back  now, the book by the late Ms. Devi was written well and yet touching astrology very briefly.
Infact it barely scratched the surface of this field, which later to my amazement opened up a pathway for me
which took years of reading first and researching much later. Years 1994-2000 were spent mostly reading
different treatises in Vedic astrology. These included encyclopedic sized Bhrigu Parasara Hora Shashtra
(BPHS), the Jamini Sutras, Phaladeepika and the Lal Kitab, among others. My appetite grew with each reading
and the early skepticism I had while reading Devi’s book had changed into belief and passion to know more
about this field. In astrology, as some new students will understand, initial knowledge brings a struggle to apply
rules verbatim on all new horoscopes one comes across. I believe many give up in the initial months or years as
the thousands of rules and permutations/ combinations start to overwhelm a student. Many quit just because the
results in this field are never fast enough. For years early on, the effort far exceeds the fruits of correct
predictions. Takes a certain amount of insanity, if you will, to persevere during these initial years – or at least
for those who remain true to it in terms of a research area, as opposed to trying to make a quick business out of
it.
Thankfully I had a good head for astrology since get go. Call it the strong abilities in mathematics, deep passion
and work into it or just beginner’s good luck, by the end of millennium, I had all but awestruck many of my
relatives and friends with very accurate predictions, sometimes years ahead of the actual events, down the date
or week. Following circa 2000, having exhausted the theory and a ‘practice set’ of 100 odd horoscopes early on,
I started diving into more case studies as I found out that even though all the theory was absolutely vital to
know, in itself it was insufficient to be a good astrologer. Brute force case studies and learning feedback loop
from these was absolutely vital. Over time, I have been through some 2000 – 3000 horoscopes if not more and
yet continue to learn this beautiful subject. I am a full time banker, a son, a friend too! So I keep putting in these
hours at late nights, weekends, off days as a passion which has kept alive over two decades now.
In this blog I will make an effort to clarify what astrology is and isn’t and perhaps as time evolves, this blog can
evolve and take its own course and shape.
 PS: If you are looking for a reading, Don’t submit anything via contact Me, kindly read the article “if you
are looking for a reading” in the Blog section. Thanks!

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What is Vedic Astrology
Even though there are umpteen schools of thought regarding astrology around the globe, this writeup deals with
only Vedic astrology. Arguably it is one of the oldest and the most comprehensive systems of astrology.
Astrology is NOT a deterministic science. It is a Probabilistic art. It was based of empirical
observations which the researchers and ‘rishis’ made literally thousands of years back. They related
events in a person’s life with their observations of the heavenly bodies they observed in the skies and
noted these down as ‘rules’ for prediction. Amazing considering that those were days with no
computers, calculators, telescopes and various technologies of contemporary times.
To generalize –
Astronomy (Science)+ Mathematics (Science) + empirical observation based rules = Astrology (Art)
In my researches, I have observed that astrology is deeply complicated even mathematically, which
tends to make sense as it is intended to portray the various aspects of life for an individual which in
general are complex too. Rarely in astrology is something purely ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but will have mixed
influences and shades of effects.
However, how astrology helps is by indicating potential in a person’s horoscope. These can be
potential good and bad times for the fructification of events in an individual’s life.
While thinking of astrology, a good analogy is weather prediction (which by the way utilizes
computational fluid dynamics – an area in which I did quiet a bit of research). Weather prediction is
not a perfect science, however that doesn’t qualify it as a contender in the field of metaphysics.
Weather prediction tends to be more accurate as the timeframe of prediction gets closer to the present
time.
Another good analogy is Stock market predictions. Predictions related to the fair market value of a
particular equity (stock) or overall market indices (Dow, S&P500 etc.) As it happens I have experience
in Stock market research as well. As weather, Equity predictions are not a perfect science and yet they
are very rational and scientific.
In all these examples, the common thread is a data set which is observable. An analysis methodology
which is precise and rationally established. The output, although, is not repeatable under similar
conditions with 100% certainty. This is because not all the variables involved in the process can be
measured defined and predicted without uncertainty involved.
So you ask, what is astrology worth? The answer can be subjective. In my analysis, astrology can be
highly accurate, or not, depending on the accuracy of input parameters, the knowledge and experience
level of the astrologer and the understanding, or lack of, of the fact that it is eventually a probabilistic
art and hence any and all predictions are not ‘Final’ or Deterministic in nature.
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So why does Vedic Astrology get Bad Press &

Reasons for a Lack of Acceptance/ Understanding?
A multitude of reasons. Some well-founded than others.
Firstly as I mentioned earlier, the intricacies of astrology are many. The study itself requires
thousands of hours of study and experimentation before an individual can usually reach consistently
high levels of accurate predictions. Now here comes in the constraints which show up in terms of time
limitations, lack of patience for learning/ research, monetary focus which can supersede real
knowledge and understanding of the subject, etc. Another reason is the frequent claims by
astrologers, wherein they predict in a deterministic tone, almost always. The predictions are always
along the lines of “this will happen..” which removes the probability factor in them.
Secondly as astrology requires high level of computational analysis, in order to be more accurate, its
deficiencies were more pronounced with the lack of heavier computational skills – a shortcoming
which has been recently removed with the advent of computer softwares that take care of a large
amount of these complications.
Thirdly, being critical of something that is not deterministic is not necessarily a negative trait for an
individual. As an stock analyst on wall street, I know well enough how even the most complex
financial models can sometimes fail to predict the direction an equity takes in short, medium or long
term basis. This can, and does, cause losses of millions of dollars of capital for investors. This does not
undermine the financial thesis and analysis. Pertinent point is that even though having the detailed
financial analysis and tools Does Not guarantee correct predictions, it is undoubtedly better than a
scenario where no analysis was done and all outcomes are fair game.
What are some other reasons for a lack of acceptance/ understanding?
The ‘Sun sign’ astrology that you read in the newspapers and tabloids has a big, if not the largest
contribution in discrediting astrology.
Ever wondered how the seemingly generic predictions can be valid for everyone with a particular
sign? Rationally speaking there are 7 billion people in the world and so 1/12 share a ‘sun sign’. So if
th

Taurus is predicted to have a headache one day, do you think 584 million people will have the same?
Astrology is a highly specific mathematical art. Even at a highly simplified approach, there are 12
houses, 12 signs and 9 ‘planets’ considered within a horoscope. All of these permutations and
combinations have different significations and meanings of interaction with each other. Prima facie,
these 1296 combinations just form the most basic initial outlook of a person’s horoscope. At the
second level, which is still top level analysis, 108 divisions are for the signs themselves and soon the
potential combinations reach into millions. In other words the snapshot of the heavenly bodies at the
exact time and place of birth of an individual is the horoscope. This will be highly specific once you
start to peel the layers. Also these individual bodies interact with each other to produce the final
effect.
So now you don’t have just sun in say Taurus, but actually at a particular degree within Taurus and
this is itself at a specific location in your entire horoscope which will have 12 ‘houses’ which engulf the
360 degree orb of space. Also the other planetary bodies are interacting with this sun in very specific
ways to modify the effect of the sun at that degree in Taurus. Not meaning to get too technical (or
boring) the same sun at say 13.5 degrees in Taurus will give markedly different results for different
individuals born with a similar sun placement in their horoscope.
Only a holistic comprehensive study of this snapshot (horoscope chart) of an individual can
successfully predict both the attributes of an individual and various positive and negative events in
their life, all within a probability framework and not in a deterministic fashion. Thus, the ‘Sun sign’
predictions we all saw growing up tend to publicize astrology as a generic hoopla in the average
person’s mind and it gets a negative image due to the same.
Then there are the ‘men of science’, no pun intended. These highly educated individuals claim to
reject astrology as a potential study as they have studied science and hence can theorize that astrology
is a pseudo-science. Importantly they have not read, studied or practiced anything related to astrology
at any level and yet they are sure of its non-existence. From my vantage point, nothing can be more
un-scientific than to reject a hypothesis without knowing its underlying premises, testing the theory
or making an effort to realize its parameters/ strengths & weaknesses. Unfortunately these men of
science might be the doctors, lawyers, engineers et al. of contemporary society who have done well in
their chosen fields and hence their word has a predisposition to carry a certain authority over their
friends and family and society in general. If they reject something, must be so. Interestingly the books
these men of science read to get their diplomas contained material which was more than likely
pseudo-science upto a few decades back. Scientific progress relies on open minds. Rejecting
something in a hurry is as wrong as accepting something without the necessary understanding of a
subject.
Finally, within the scriptures of Vedic astrology or “Jyotish” in Sanskrit implies a theme of being an
art to help guide individuals. Jyotish itself loosely translates into the Light or guiding light. Guidance
towards the potentials in a person in terms of their abilities, the potential time periods for occurrence
of events and perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel for someone suffering in any financial,
physical or mental way. Hence the initial intention was not to have a glamorized study and/ or
monetize it, but for the astrologer to help others as a guru/ teacher. In that regards the original
intention was definitely benign and altruistic, although very much like other fields in life, those willing
to quickly pocket gains from it couldnt be far away at any stage. These individuals helped to bring
disrepute to astrology over the passage of time which led to a further lack of understanding and
research into the field.
Empirical observations can sometimes be made by regular people (as opposed to only researchers) in
their day to day lives. For instance crime escalating on full moon days is something many of us have
heard of. The law enforcement authorities will admit that based on statistics, it is true. So in Vedic
astrology moon is the significator of intelligence, imagination and emotions among other things and
its placement and dignity in an individual’s horoscope has a strong bearing on a person’s mentality
and emotions and thus actions on a day to day level. Something along the same lines were the
observations made by some observant individuals who related events in day to day lives of people
with the movement of heavenly bodies and deciphered repetitive patterns over time.
Important discrimination here is the cause and effect. These planetary movements are not causing the
events. However in this art, their movement (relative to the snapshot at birth) has been correlated
with the timings of various events in an individual’s life. Thus even though future events are
unknown, the relative planetary movement is known via astronomy/ physics and hence the
correlation rules aim at predicting the events that are yet to unfold – the underlying synopsis of
astrology.
 
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5 Responses to So why does Vedic Astrology get Bad Press & Reasons for a Lack of Acceptance/
Understanding?

1. Rohiniranjan says:
April 7, 2015 at 5:43 pm
Three myths in the realm of Jyotish!
1) One has to sit at the feet of Masters in order to learn this craft of Vedic astrology.
2) Destiny is supreme in everything in life, and uniformly so in all that is good or bad!
3) Jyotish cannot rid itself of religious epithets and is constrained by theological boundaries.
There are more, but the above three are agonizing enough to many, so I will stop!
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What’s possible then? Setting some boundary

conditions on this art
So what all can be predicted accurately with the help of Vedic astrology, assuming that the exact time
and place of a person’s birth is known accurately.
 
I have been able to predict exact dates (sometimes a range of dates) of a job loss, accident, surgery,
marriage, child birth, etc. for the individual years in advance of the actual event. Many a times the
events unfolded exactly as foretold, sometimes the intensity was a bit less or more over the actual
prediction and sometimes the events didn’t unfold at all. Another important point is that not
everything in astrology is predicted as ‘set in stone’.
 
Apart from the probability factor as mentioned earlier, an important consideration is the fact that
many periods are given as suitable or potent for a particular event to occur. However there remains a
‘free will’ on the individual’s behalf to be able to tap into the opportunity that might knock on her door
during such time periods. As an example, a person contacted me regarding a potential job change and
that he was considering changing his job and place but were not sure. I mentioned a 7 month period
(from the reading) during which period I probabilistically saw a great potential to shift a job, though
there were other astrological factors which contradicted and were diffusing the intensity or lowering
the probability of the move. In other words I could astrologically see a potential and possible effort to
change the job but didn’t really feel it would materialize. I also saw that following the 7 months, a
potential would not be created for atleast 23 more months. Years later the individual contacted me.
He said he had tried to look for a job and found a couple within first 5 to 6 months but he changed his
mind and decided not to shift. Then after a year he got a new boss who made his life miserable and he
actively started searching again. But this time even after a consistent effort to find a good role for over
a year, he wasn’t able to secure another offer. In astrology positive/ negative forces, good/ bad are
subjective and play out all the time and if both are relatively equally strong, the prediction becomes
less ‘certain’ and probability of a predicted event goes low in my mind. Sometimes the indicated result
is strongly in one direction and I have seen such events are hard to alter in their course, regardless of
action taken beforehand.
 
Apart from event based predictions, common questions are – “how rich will I become?”, “how happy
will my marriage be?”, “will this place suit me?” etc. The issue with highly subjective queries is that
the answer cannot be objective either. Some individual might be happy with just a little bit of savings
and some are not with millions in their account. Regardless even the ‘rich’ come in diffuse definitions
of rich, very rich, filthy rich, etc. and these definitions are as diverse as the asset value totals. Likewise
happiness is a state of mind and not something directly quantifiable. Hence by very definition, certain
queries are hard to address and they also do not lend well to a feedback down the timeline of whether
they actually played out as predicted or not.
 
Another counter-intuitive fact in astrology is that sometimes it is much easier to predict a small injury
to a person or a job change/ break period, even a promotion. On the other hand, it is hard to pin point
the exact profession of an individual! The reason is that the horoscope will show potential strong
characteristics an individual might have, but the same can be put to use in different professions and
which exact line the person will take can eventually be a logical guess more or less. As an example in
my horoscope, research oriented and quantitative career is seen along with strong writing/ reading
skills. The house influencing education has both technical and business aspects to it. So if someone
showed me such a horoscope, it would be hard to pinpoint the career even though I can pin point the
strengths and aptitudes. I did research in engineering and my corporate roles in engineering were
research oriented too in which I also wrote technical papers/ literature manuals. Then I shifted
careers and did an MBA, following which I was doing finance but again from a research perspective
and publishing papers again. So eventually call it a limitation or not, the actual abilities can be
distinguished in a horoscope, important negative and positive times indicating breaks/ lay-offs/
promotions can be successfully predicted in astrology, but as far as the exact profession itself, it is
hard!
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Learnings For me along the way…

For me the passion was the thrill in finding patterns, peeking into the unknown, analyzing/dissecting
given data and doing it all over again. Maybe it kept my brain occupied and hence satiating the
nervous energy within. Maybe the prize was the process itself. Regardless, my energy into the field
grew with time. As I mentioned before, I have always loved subjects which require intellectual
challenges. Where the known merges into the unknown. During the initial years, when I applied
certain rules I had learnt through the scriptures via detailed mathematical analysis to arrive at specific
dates, sometimes years before the event unfolded, and then the event did unfold was dumbfounding
to me. Something felt not right. Sometimes my predictions literally gave goosebumps to myself and
my family members or whoever was the recipient of the prediction.
 
Perhaps the human mind tends to embrace the unknown only if it fits a pre-conceived notion that it
learnt along the way of its environment. If it doesn’t make sense, the average person, will be quick to
dismiss it and subconsciously detach from the person or object making any such ‘predictions’.
Something is ‘freaky’ about them, so to speak, and none of us likes freaky. Neither did I. But I couldn’t
stop. I wanted to know more. The thrill of knowing was more than the ‘terror’ of knowing (something
negative) for me. Or perhaps it was a continuous effort to ‘decode’ the unknown and make sense of
this amazing art. A cardinal rule in the scriptures is to avoid looking at one’s own horoscope or the
ones of close loved ones as one will tend to see it in a biased light and can get very upset over anything
negative one might see. That’s the first rule all new astrologers break and I was no exception. After all
where was the fun if I couldn’t predict things for myself?
 
Although I didn’t realize this earlier, the best learning that came from astrology was a spiritual
detachment to cause and effect in the arena of day to day life. I am still asked frequently – “doesn’t
knowing a negative thing freak you out?”
 
Of course it did, perhaps still does, but to a much limited extent. Over time a realization dawned that
many of these negative events I could foresee, in my own chart as an example, I couldn’t prevent or
deflect any of those events. So a small evolution of thought process happened over the years, perhaps
as a parallel defense mechanism developing as the understanding and research into this art grew. I
learnt how do to what I needed to do, or should do, given the logical parameters at any given time and
not bother about the outcome. So if I could foresee my own failure in a voluntary academic
examination, did I still work towards it? Yes I did (with full vigor) and yes I failed. But I did such a
thing again and again.
 
Counter-intuitive? Perhaps. Firstly the probability factor again, not everything is hard set in stone.
Secondly, I feel there is something failure teaches us and the process of failure teaches us even more.
The end game of our learnings and mental evolution is much more complex than a binary good or
bad, win or loss. So after all my ‘job’ was to do what I could and fate’s ‘job’ was to do its thing. Over
time I have learnt to live in harmony with that fact. It brings in a tremendous calm. Not happiness,
not cheer – just calm. To me the calm is almost ‘freaky’ relative to the high energy anxious person I
used to be. The illusion of control faded away and taught me to worry about factors only in my hand
and leave the rest to the planets. It gave a deep rooted understanding that effort, qualifications/
ability are vital components of achieving a goal and yet not sufficient by themselves. We tend to, at
least I did, be anxious about an outcome as we subconsciously feel that after doing the needsome on
the factor we can control, the outcome should be controlled as well. But normally it isn’t. Thus to me
fate wasn’t just a theory to hide behind, it was an understanding towards the calmness within.
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Can Macro/ Worldwide events be predicted using

Vedic Astrology?
I get this query a lot.
Short answer is No. Inherently Vedic astrology and its predictive tools are all defined and refined in
context of human beings. But the answer is not completely no either as explained below.
I have to a certain extent succeeded in some research along the lines of Natural disasters, Stock
markets, Commodity prices etc. Problems- Firstly, astrology isn’t defined for these events and
secondly, now a ‘horoscope’ itself disappears and so do ‘dasha’ periods (planetary periods utilized as
one of the main predictive tools for timing of events)
Basically what remains is Transit. Transit is the current movement of the heavenly bodies (planets) in
the zodiac at any given moment of time. This is dynamic in nature of course and the movement is
available from astronomical calendars (ephemeris) or simply by the astrological softwares.
What one can do is look at transitory alignments and predict on a mass scale, periods when the
likelihood of Natural disasters in the world is increased. That works. But there is an inability to point
out what exact disaster or the geographical coordinates where it will occur.
Mars represents action/ aggression and also violence/ calamities it also denotes the earth and land
below our feet. Mars rules the fire element and is Karaka of volcanoes, earthquakes etc. Saturn
represents the general public or the masses/ mass population. Inherently these 2 planets are mortal
enemies of each other. When they combine or aspect each other, especially in the signs of Aries,
Scorpio or Capricorn they can wreak mass havoc. I have correlated past events like earthquakes, big
floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, wars between countries breaking out or tense situations arising, mass
scale tragedies etc.
Typically Mars remains in one sign in transit ~45 days whereas Saturn remains in one sign for about
2.5 years or 30 months. However sometimes when mars turns retrograde in a sign and then forward
again, it can remain in a sign for as long as 9 months. If this position happens to be in conjunction,
opposition or mutual aspect from Saturn, surely an elongated period of tensions arise where conflicts
break out more, violent happenings like terrorism, genocide, earthquakes/ tsunamis etc. happen
much more than average.
As an example this yr., Mars is in opposition to Saturn from May 3rd to June 14th 2015.
Mars is in Taurus (otherwise pleasant sign) and Saturn in Scorpio. This period on a
Mass scale is likely to see the following –
1) Most of us will feel a power struggle at home or at work. We will feel constrained and unable to
express ourselves fully or vent our energies fully and hence leading to more meltdowns, fights and
arguments with bosses/ spouses/ parents etc.
2) Most of us will feel a sense of frustration more than usual and getting into situations which need
‘rescue acts’ so to speak and immediate action to prevent aggravation of the situation
3) Mass scale events of damage/ tragedy like earthquakes/ tsunamis/ hurricanes/ floods/ terrorism
will increase in intensity. Especially between May 8th and May 22nd when the opposition of
Mars- Saturn is more exact in degrees.
However like I mentioned all this becomes generic, but #1 and #2 will be much truer for those of us
whose MOON sign is Taurus or Scorpio or Ascendant is one of these 2 signs. Will also depend heavily
on our individual operating planetary periods in context to our horo and hence some might feel just
a 1% surge in the first 2 points whereas some will get into massive power struggles. Somewhere in the
middle of May, a mass scale negative event (affecting thousands) can occur somewhere in the world
which we will all read about in the news.
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If You are looking for a Reading..

UPDATE as of APRIL 19th, 2015 – Due to time constraints coupled with very heavy inflow for reading
requests, I am unable to accept anymore reading requests for the time being. Please note if you are sending a
request after April 19th, it will not be responded to.
 
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.
 
Hence I am going to focus on the Lessons portion and encourage the readers to learn this art themselves.
The Lessons are still here and still Free and I will keep adding to them as time permits.
For all those who emailed before April 19th, there is quiet a backlog and I will respond to you eventually, so
hang in there and I greatly appreciate your patience.
 
Instructions for submitting data-
Please send your birth details (date, time and place) to theartofvedicastrology@gmail.com
Like the past 20+ yrs., I don’t do this for money as of today. That said, I have replied to hundreds over
the years in different astrology forums and people who came to me referenced by others.
I can’t promise any timelines as I have a busy schedule, but will revert when I can. Also
if possible, please try to keep questions to max 2 or 3 and keep them precise/ concise. In
general I prefer to respond to those in more severe/ urgent need/ crisis in their professional/ personal
lives as opposed to individual’s asking out of curiosity.
On an average, I am receiving anywhere between 20 to 50 requests in a day, which is overwhelming for me.
Please be patient and when you do get a response to your query, please abstain from requestioning
further and starting a never ending loop. Only the initial 2 or 3 questions will be answered.
Exact time (or as accurate as possible) is needed. Remember a few minutes can make a big difference.
-If you are unsure of your time outside of plus or minus 15 minutes, then I might not be able to help
you.
-If you are unsure within plus or minus 15 minutes then also send 5 significant events in past with
exact dates of the events. These are significant events like graduation, job startings, promotions,
marriage/ child birth, accidents/ surgeries, tragic events in family, birth of sibling, etc. – anything
which stands out as a significant as opposed to a day-to-day event.
This helps in BTR (Birth time rectification. Or essentially fine tuning the time of birth by reverse
engineering known past dates with events. Once the time is set, the horoscope is set for future
reading)
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Not About Belief!

Vedic Astrology is not about Belief. It is an empirical art which is based on a massive effort (since thousands of
years) by observers who correlated events in an individual’s life with external movements of heavenly bodies.
Pertinent point is that correlation DOES NOT mean causation. It is not the planets causing the events, their
movement is used as a yardstick to correlate events on earth relative to the snapshot of the heavenly bodies at
the exact time of birth of an individual.
Talking about belief can be a long book in itself. I am presenting briefly about my ideas on it. As a background
my father and elder sister are a Gastroenterologist & Gynecologist respectively. My mother is a lawyer turned
administrative officer in the Government. Hailing from a background deeply valuing science and education,
astrology was not a natural progression by any means. My father especially would have nothing to do with it,
being trained in Science with a long list of medical degrees and training. As I mentioned earlier I was a skeptic
as well and over the last 2 decades, the more I tried to disprove or expel the existence of astrology, the more it
proved itself!
Belief is a beautiful thing, a strange thing and a deadly thing – all based on the context of a situation. When we
grow up, learning about our culture/ religion etc. beliefs are crystallized in our mental structure and become our
‘foundation’ so to speak. The child who is afraid of thunder or the creature in her closet needs safety, the adult
is no different, we all need an Anchor of safety in our lives. Something which we can always rely on.
Something/ someone who knowns better than us and guides us, especially when times get rough.
Call it God, Almighty, Nature, Omnipresent entity etc. it is of course within us and everywhere around us. In
this context, belief is beautiful and powerful. It is that self-balancing force which can control crime in a
civilized society more than any law enforcement ever can, it is the law enforcement within us. It can also be our
mental reflection of our highest ideals, our highest morals and goals.
It can be transcendental in our belief (existing outside the worldly realm) or immanental (living and operating
within us in the day-to-day world)
It is also the ‘force’ which we rationalize in ourselves when the variables affecting our lives start getting into
millions and are beyond our comprehension of intelligence and knowledge. Typically knowing the rationality
behind anything gives us comfort and so the ‘force’ of almighty is the also the final rationality to give us a
reason for things which are beyond reason to us. Things which we don’t understand or can’t control. Things
which in our minds over power us and hence we need that force/ belief to overpower on our behalf.
In the context of giving us stability, satisfaction and something to look up to/ forward to – it’s a beautiful thing.
By the same token, regardless of what our beliefs are, it takes a highly trained mind to be able to over ride the
Crystallized thought process later in life and no matter how high the IQ, fluid intelligence is usually trumped by
the crystallized thought process. After all something that ‘worked’ for us till our adulthood should be right, No?
Else the implications are grave, our very belief foundation starts shaking and we can defy any newly presented
facts and even get ‘violent’ (not physically always) to defend our beliefs. After all it is a part of us and any
questioning of the same leads to a ‘Fight or Flight’ response.
The negative context of belief has been witnessed by contemporary society way too often- it can even
overpower Nature’s force of ‘self-preservation’ and an individual can go to extremes protecting or furthering
their beliefs. In this context the belief can take an extremely negative face and the present day world is realizing
this fast in terms of the 3rd added Force to the long accepted ‘Greed’ & ‘Fear’ which are deep within us. Belief
is a force to reckon with in both the negative and positive context.
Coming back to astrology. Astrology was not a belief system for me. It has been a journey of heavy research of
theoretical facts and their real world implications. Relating theory to empirical (day to day) events in a person’s
life and having a feedback loop for the result analysis. I have looked at the facts for 2 decades and researched on
it like a big scientific experiment, or rather thousands of mini experiments of individual horoscopes. The
results have led me to surrender to the facts I have observed. That is why I believe in not only its existence but
its applicability in day to day life. This is very different than believing something. This is surrendering to the
facts – both the strengths and weaknesses of astrology and its limitations.
I am trained in science and numbers and have a strong dislike for fiction – albeit in books/ movies or any shape
or form. My ‘belief’ in astrology stems for observations which are defined on a seemingly theoretical set of
rules which have worked in my researches/ observations. Please understand that astrology is not an Axiom of
nature/ physics as it is still not defined properly by contemporary science and hence in my book an ART as
opposed to a Science. However one needs to remember that Gravity (now an axiom) worked long before it was
understood and long before it was defined by someone and likewise, astrology works whether you understand it
or not, or believe in it or not!
----------

Case Studies
Starting out on some screencast Youtube videos as case studies.
This first one will be straight forward. As I upload more, I will focus more on the yogas Assuming that the
individual hearing the video is already at a significant level of understanding in terms of horoscopes.
These videos are going to be basic analysis and hence vital for a medium level to strong level beginner. In
reality, one has to focus on dozens, if not hundreds, of factors in a horoscope which I will skip mostly in the
videos but gradually over time the videos will become more technically involved than in the beginning.
Best way to learn is Case studies. So keep doing the homework and try to do as many case studies as
possible! 🙂
Here goes the first one (Bill Gates & the similarities of Bruce Springsteen as well as Steven Spielberg)
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Generic Predictions
As I mentioned before, astrology is more meaningful when utilized for an individual horoscope where hundreds
of things have to be taken into consideration, leading to accurate personalized predictions.
However, due to people emailing me frequently regarding generic predictions, I will give them below in terms
of macro trends for given LUNAR signs (sign where your Moon is placed in).
As mentioned above, these are much more generic than personalized predictions but on the other hand will be
relatively much more accurate than just Sun sign predictions as they will take into account all planets and be
specific for your Lunar sign.
If you do not know your Moon Sign/ Ascendant lord, please download and install “Jagannatha Hora Version
7.66” online. It’s Free and later at some stage, I will make a video of how to start playing around with some
basics of it. Once you download it, you can plug in your date, place and time of birth (the software already has
an inbuilt atlas for co-ordinates for most cities on earth). Once it spits out your horoscope. Read the SIGN of
your Moon (Moon sign) & also your Ascendant sign. Read the generic trends below for Both of these signs you
have.
Use the Trend Predictions below liberally and not literally for your Lunar sign and also for your
Ascendant sign (if you know it). Your individual horoscope, your natal planets and dasa periods will
greatly modify the effects below. Even then, these trends can still play out as per your sign, albeit at very
varied intensity levels (good or bad)
In case you do not wish to go through the process of finding your Moon sign or ascendant and wish to go
by the SUN sign only then kindly see you correct Sun sign below as per SIDEREAL astrology-
April 14th – May 14th (ARIES)
May 15th – June 14th (TAURUS)
June 15th – July 15th (GEMINI)
July 16th – August 15th (CANCER)
August 16th – September 16th (LEO)
September 17th – October 17th (VIRGO)
October 18th – November 16th (LIBRA)
November 17th – December 16th (SCORPIO)
December 17th – January 15th (SAGI.)
January 15th – February 13th (CAPRICORN)
February 14th – March 15th (AQUARIUS)
March 16th – April 14th (PISCES)
On the overlapping dates, the hour of birth will decide the sign and hence for quick and dirty analysis, a Cusp or
both signs can be considered.
Aries – The going might have been tough recently for many of you. Especially related to work/ job/ career since
November ’14. Many might have made changes to their jobs or even lost it. Some might be feeling pressure at
work and thinking of making changes soon. Either ways, the period is ripe for you to make changes and dust off
positions which were making you unhappy. From 2nd week of April itself, things which are seemingly stuck
recently will ease up and start progressing. If you have not already made this change and are trying to decide a
good time to do so, you have till the beginning of July 2015 to do so. Following middle of this year, things will
ease up due to sudden luck and windfalls for many. If you are trying to have a child, those 13 months from mid-
July ’15 onwards is the time you should target for. Those unmarried will get good opportunities to develop long
term romantic connections in the above period.
Taurus – Taureans have been most likely dealing with efforts related to relationships/ marriage since the last 3
to 4 months. Those in business might have been looking abroad or off-seas as well. Those already in wedlock
might get some gain or good luck through their spouses in this period, especially between April 8th – July 13th,
2015.
July ’15 to August ’16 is a period where the focus will shift to home. Both in terms of family, especially mother
and for those close to securing their own house/ property this entire period is good, especially August 16th –
September 15th 2015 when many Taureans will be either buying/ selling property or relocating/ shifting for
work.
Gemini – November 2nd, ’14 onwards many Gemini have felt the heat related to health and finances. For those
undergoing negative dashas in their horoscope, the time till July is highly negative for health and many might
have gotten into accidents and even surgeries due to mishaps. This period is not abating till mid-July of this year
(2015) and so continue to be careful. July ’15 to August ’16, focus will shift to self-efforts and communications
with siblings and peers which will improve their circumstances relative to where they are currently. Parents
health, especially of mother also might come under the radar, especially till January 16th, 2016.
Cancer – Focus has recently been on Children/ progeny and relationships. Those married and trying for
children might be focusing on this right now and can get lucky from 2nd week of April till mid-July.
Relationships with younger siblings might be strained a little bit. Those still unmarried have a very good
window to be swept away in love for the next 3 months, especially May 15th – June 14th this year. Speculation
can give good results for some and this tendency will be enhanced for Cancer individuals currently. Many have
enjoyed good health lately and have become lax about their eating habits which should be watched to avoid
gaining weight. In general many Cancer individuals might have put on weight since the middle of 2014.
Leo – Focus has been on home, might be a potential upcoming relocation/ renovation or movement due to a
recent spat with the spouse. A bit of mental unrest since July 2014 probably worsened for many after Nov 3,
2014 and even led to some sickness for some around New years period. Health is under scanner right now till
middle of this year and should be watched, especially for those who have a known heart condition from before.
Many Leos had a great time for first 6 to 7 months of 2014 and then the period changed to slightly worse
starting July 2014 and worsened following Nov ’14. Those who have been eating/ drinking more than usual will
see a sudden shift to health following July and especially around August – September this year.
Virgo – Many might have been making an effort to have a child since the last few months. Period which started
to feel good since July last yr. improved even further towards the end of 2014. New job opportunities came
easily for those trying to make a shift. But thing slowed down after New years and especially since the last one
month. They will heat up again before the end of this month. If you have been feeling very indecisive since
almost August of 2014, then perhaps take good advice from mentors before making big life decisions before Jan
16th 2016. Any impulsive decisions will boomerang. There will be a tendency for sudden mood changes
enhanced all through 2015 and will worsen more towards the negative side after August this yr. So keep your
spirits high. Many will turn spiritual after July this year and those looking to move abroad will get that
opportunity and change after Sep 6th this year. Those who have been making a windfall (good money) since the
last 8 to 10 months now, you have 2 to 3 months to start being careful about your investments else the losses
can hit hard starting July this year.
Libra – Family, home and house and even vehicles has been the recent theme for many. Relocation will be on
the cards for many within the next 2 to 3 months this yr. Those in Government jobs will get gains after mid-July
and in general most Librans will enjoy their social life after July this yr. for the next 13 months. Mother’s health
will be in focus for many and care should be taken not to ignore any medical symptoms that developed after
December ’14. Period turns very good for speculative gain and new investments starting Jan 2016 and for 6
months after that. Currently if you have something related to Job/ Career painfully stuck, it is about to release
very soon, within the next couple of weeks in a positive direction. Be careful not to become lazy at work which
can damage your job prospects.
Scorpio – Many have been making an effort to improve their health by actively taking care of their diets and
exercise since the last 5 months. This effort has recently decreased and will continue shortly. Those in
communication fields like IT, Journalism etc. might have made some changes in their career. Relations with
younger siblings have been under the scanner and if historically negative, it’s a good time to make effort in that
area. New business ventures will give gain. Many scorpions started to feel a sudden mental pressure since Nov
’14 due to the Saturn transit. This will not go away unless you deal with the issues which are giving the
pressure. Without fail a good time to make big changes in life. If you have been unhappy with work since the
last 3 yrs., the time has come to make the changes. Students will do well and focus will shift from education to
work starting July 13, 2015.
Sagittarius – It has been emotionally difficult time for Sagittarius since July 2014 and this will abate only after
July this year. Many might have started eating more than usual as a comfort food in the process, gaining weight
and on and off getting immunity related health issues. Finances might also not have been good with many
feeling expenses trumping their income and savings. Especially since November ’14 many might be feeling that
their life has taken a couple of steps in the negative direction for multiple areas in life. Well worry not as the
cycle of time changes and so it will for you from August this year. Those who can wait that long are advised to
do so before making major changes in life. Those willing to go to school after a job loss or even otherwise will
have the 13 months following July-Aug this yr. as a very good window. If you are having lack of progress at
work, many Saggis are advised to take this step of going to school this Fall.
Capricorn – Health is in focus and might have improved for many over the last 2 to 3 months relative to
before. Job progress and income was good over the last half a yr. but slowed down after January and then after
March. This will pick up again in a couple of weeks and pick up 100% by September this yr. Changes and
relocation will come to many in the second half of the year. Those abroad or in higher education will have
hurdles and these will continue with varying intensity till January of 2016. Brace yourself for a period of
introspection and possible slow growth at work for 13 months starting July this year.
Aquarius – Job/ Career and expenses has been the recent theme for many. Those who had issues with their
boss/ authority might have lost their jobs after November ’14 and might be feeling frustrated on lack of new
prospects. This will pick up after mid-April, so don’t hang up your boots yet. Do not indulge into the negative,
short term pleasure seeking activities like alcohol/ drugs etc. in case you feel the sudden urge. This urge will
hang around till the end of this year. Career will remain in focus and there is a need to work hard till January
2017. Relationships/ marriage too will need attention from January ’16 onwards. Period of January ’16 –
August ’16 will be very vital for those already in relationship issues. Depending on the individual horoscope,
these 7 months will have focus on relationships and partnerships for Aquarians.
Pisces – Many Pisceans are enjoying relief since the last 5 months or so. Previous to November ’14, many
Pisceans had many issues in multiple areas of life. Period of January 2013 – July 2014 was particularly
upsetting for many Pisceans and would have brought about job loss, grief, agony and hopelessness for many.
Thankfully that’s behind you, so keep looking ahead and working towards long term goals. Period till July this
year is apt for making long term life decisions. May 15 – June 14 this year is especially good. Don’t waste any
time till July this year and put in your 100% in repairing any residual damage from the last couple of years.
Good times area ahead but will need effort from your side. Many will also be blessed with children in the next 3
months and focus will shift to job and health for the 13 months following July 2015.
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Lessons
This section will have technical posts, which are not for the casual reader. These posts will assume a very basic
knowledge of vedic astrology, but to a complete beginner, it might be overwhelming.
I will start with relatively basic concepts and then write on more complicated matters and topics in astrology.
Consider these to be in order of learning the abc of astrology first and later, more complex topics and being able
to look at one’s own horoscope will filter in.
The written articles are purely my own thoughts. They are, what I believe, condensed pages of relevant
information for starters of this art. Rest assured, these are powerful summarized versions of knowledge from
various texts of astrology. These include, but not limited to, Parasara Hora Shastra, Jamini Sutras, KP
system, Jatak Parijata, Deva Keralam, Phaladeepika, Lal Kitab and others.
Over time, I have found that no one school of thought is completely comprehensive (Parasara comes close) and
no school of thought is obselete in relevance either. They all converge at a definitive level of understanding.
NOTE – All material here is completely in my words, Please feel free to reproduce with permission and not
otherwise. (click on pictures to see them bigger) Thanks!
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12 Houses & Their Significations

This is where the basics of astrology start. The 360 zodiac divided equally into 12 divisions of 30 degrees each.
Each division is called a sign. Starting from Aries and to Pisces. Each sign has a ruler (planet) and some planets
have a dual ownership (of 2 signs)
 
‘Planet’ in vedic astrology stands for a heavenly body in consideration. Not all of them are real planets by the
Physics definition. Sun and Moon are taken as planets and not as a star or satellite respectively.
The 9 main planets considered in vedic astrology are – Sun, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Venus &
Rahu and Ketu. The last 2 are not physical entities. These are imaginary points in space where the axis of moon
and sun (relative to earth) overlap. These two entities are hence mathematical calculations as opposed to the
other 7 objects which are observable entities in space. Rahu and Ketu effect a horoscope and individual strong
enough to be considered as independent planets themselves. These are by definition always 180 degrees from
each other.
 
Next step is the 12 houses. Each house represents/ rule over multiple things in a person’s life. These houses are
called as ‘Bhaavs’.
 
Regarding ownership, when a planet rules 2 signs, one of its signs is its main or more important sign and the
other is the lesser one. This is a relative concept, regardless of which the planet involved presides over both the
signs. The more important of these is called the ‘Mooltrikona’ sign (MK in short from here on)
Rahu and Ketu do not own any signs as they are not physical entities. However they are co-rulers of some signs
as mentioned later. They also act as ‘shadow planets’ implying they mirror the effects of planets they sit close to
and signs they sit in.
 
Signs & their ownership-
 
Aries – Mars (MK sign)
Taurus – Venus
Gemini – Mercury
Cancer – Moon
Leo – Sun
Virgo – Mercury (MK sign) & Rahu (co-ruler)
Libra – Venus (MK sign)
Scorpio – Mars and Ketu (co-ruler)
Sagittarius – Jupiter (MK sign)
Capricorn – Saturn
Aquarius – Saturn (MK sign) and Rahu (co-ruler)
Pisces – Jupiter
 
The 12 Bhaavs (houses) represent hundreds of things each. Hence this list below is not comprehensive but aims
at pointing to at least some important significations of each of the bhaavs-
 
1st House – The person themselves, head, hair on head, skull, brain, skin, general health/immunity/ vitality,
overall wellbeing and success, place of birth, general characteristics of person physically, general characteristics
of a person mentally (behavior wise), thinking and the mind, Power or status (or lack of it), starting or
beginning of events etc.
2nd Bhaav – Primary house of Wealth, assets (savings/ checking/ brokerage/ retirement accounts etc.), material
possessions like clothing, jewelry, household articles, family of the person, face, mouth, tounge area of the body
and things from them – speech, ‘Maraka’ place (killer place, or house that has potential to end life), right eye
for male and left eye for female, general eyesight (both eyes) also signified from here, very basic education (say
upto Grade 3)
 
3rd Bhaav – Siblings (especially younger ones), Neighbors and surrounding people, Courage, Hobbies, Valor,
Throat and Neck area and things we do from them – Communication, Singing/ dancing, Things used for
communication – Media, Journalism, Internet, IT, computers, phones, Writing articles/ books, also handwriting,
Short distance travel, Short term goals (which is why hobbies as well), things we do from hand and arm
involvement, Zeal to work and activity levels, sexual prowess and activity, ears and hearing.
 
4th Bhaav – Mother, motherland, vehicles, fixed property (Land, houses, real estate), agricultural or other real
estate, Emotions and happiness, Luxuries, Place of residence, Chest and Lungs area, Heart, Upper spine, Private
life and feelings (as opposed to 10th house of public life), comfort (or lack of it), peace of mind, High school
level education (say upto grade XII)
 
5th Bhaav – Creativity and anything we create, children (an important thing we create), imagination, emotions
(especially romantic ones), memory, fluid intelligence (as opposed to crystallized intelligence of 9th house),
speculation (gambling, stock markets etc), competition, past life good Karma, House of wealth (laxmi),
diplomacy, royal or powerful positions, fame, college or higher education, Stomach, Lower heart area, Liver,
Spleen, Lower back, kidneys
 
6th Bhaav – Anything that opposes us – enemies, short term or acute sickness, injuries, surgeries, debt, litigation/
courts, people who compete with us, break of relationships, day to day grind or work, agony, physical pain,
service and servants, theft and thieves, animals, fire, diseases (especially acute), hygiene and medicine, Critical
thoughts and being critical of others, Pancreas, small intestine, lower waist level, lower back, urinary bladder,
kidneys, pregnancy for a female.
 
7th Bhaav – Relationships, how we relate to people, legal contracts, Business, partnerships, marriage, spouse,
married life, foreign places (opposite of 1st bhaav of birthplace), foreign residence or a residence far from birth
town, external sexual organs, sexuality, sexual habits, large intestine and anal area. ‘Maraka’ place (killer place,
or house that has potential to end life)
 
8th Bhaav – Transformations, obstacles, turnarounds in life, sudden events, tragic accidents, serious accidents
and injuries, deep emotions and turmoil, death and death like events, denegerate habits like addictions to drugs,
alcohol, smoking, hidden things, occult/ metaphysics and interest in same, deep research or deep dive analysis
of any area (trying to uncover hidden things), regenerate habits – detachment from materialism or success, loans
or unearned money like legacies, inheritance, Change of lifestyle/ residence/ job or other activity, mental
anguish and despair/ hopelessness, internal sexual organs, anal area, testis area for males, Chronic or long term
disease, incurable disease, terminal sickness. Death.
 
9th Bhaav – Father, Guru, Boss/ employer, Destiny, luck, Higher education, Higher education institutes,
universities, temples, research, crystallized intelligence – this implies belief/ religion, spirituality, meditation,
long distance travel, foreign travel, good deeds of previous lives, Blessings and divine help, House of wealth
(Laxmi), abstract thinking, crossing intellectual boundaries into new cultures/ beliefs/ faith, foreign residence,
publishing, import-export, Hips, thighs, tailbone area
 
10th Bhaav – Career, job, status in life, Public life, external manifestation of our work, Fame, prestige/ honor,
rise in life, Karma (our actions), energy levels at work, Image at work, Government, recognition from
Government, Powerful positions like politicians/ CEOs/ Director of institutes, Management related positions,
Knees and middle portion of legs
 
11th Bhaav – Gains, Income, Rewards from work/ job, promotions, wealth house (especially fluid wealth), long
term desires/ goals and their fulfillment, elder siblings, ears and hearing, social circle, friends, social interaction,
desires and ambitions, recovery from disease, ankles and lower feet area, prize or recognition from authorities/
Government.
 
12th Bhaav – Loss, expenses, letting go, isolation, imprisonment, loss of movement (hospitalization), loss of
freedom (imprisonment), deep emotions, grief/ sadness, hidden life including sleep & sexual/ bedroom activity,
foreign residence, far off-isolated places, dreams, meditation and meditative state, spirituality, lack of
materialism, Moksha, long distance travel and settlement, hidden strengths and weaknesses, hidden enemies,
intuition/ psychic visions, feet, left eye for males and right eye for females,  hospitalization, hard to diagnose
diseases, sleep related diseases like insomnia, somnambulism, etc.
 
 
So above are some important things that come to mind regarding each bhaav, as I said this list is not
comprehensive by any means and each bhaav might represent dozens of other things in a native’s life.
 
Also important is to note that the 3rd and 8th bhaavs are the bhaavs of ‘Jeeva Shakti’ (Life force) and 12 th bhaav
is a bhaav of loss or ending. Hence 12th to any bhaav is the loss of that bhaav. Thus the 2nd and 7th bhaavs (being
12th to the 3rd and 8th bhaavs respectively) are ‘Maraka’ or killer houses. Similarly as 9th house is house of good
luck and destiny, 12th to it or 8th bhaav is the bhaav of destruction and bad luck.
 
With many other caveats, safe to initially assume that houses 1, 5 & 9 are good houses which give health,
wealth, blessings, good luck, education/ wisdom, status etc.
 
1,4,7 and 10 are called ‘Kendra’ or in the Center or important houses as they rule over most of the vital things in
our day to day lives
 
Houses 6,8 & 12 are called ‘dusthanas’ (or bad houses) as they represent things which oppose us and give us
agony, losses, grief and pain.
 
Another way to look at bhaavs is in respect to our relatives. Example the 9th is the father. Hence a person’s 10th
house will be the 2nd house for the father and the person’s 1st house will be the 5th house for the father, etc.
 
After this top level approach to signs and houses. Next I will write about the basic significations of the planets
themselves, after which one can start running some gears in their heads. For example Sun signifies father
among hundreds of other things. Since 9th house also signifies father, when sun rules or sits in the 9th house in a
horoscope, the effect of father are now very strongly being represented by Sun.
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9 Planets & their Significations

Next step is Planets. As mentioned in last post, there are 12 signs, 12 houses and 9 planets
These will change much later down the road when ‘Upagrahas’, divisional charts, nakshatras etc. will be
discussed but for now, lets keep it simple!
I am going to write down all significations that come to mind. This list will not be comprehensive but will
include most important things under each planet.
So the 9 planets and their significations –
1) Sun – Father, Fatherly figure, Ego, Self esteem, Soul, Fire, Fire element {others elements  are Wind
(‘Vaayu’), Earth (‘Prithvi’), Water (‘Jal’) and Sky(‘Aakash’)}, Temples/ religious places or places of worship,
Vitality, Domination, Government, Governtment jobs, Politicians, Brilliance, Radiance, Charisma, Courage,
King or Kingly status, Forests/ Mountains, Open placces, Originality in work/ thought, Dignity, Nobility, Royal
status, Bones, Heart, Arteries/ Veins, Right eye, Fevers, Eyesight in general, Stomach (not intestines), Brain,
Bile
2) Moon – Mother, Motherly figure, Women, Emotions, Imagination, Intelligence, Travelling, Desires/
Passions, Memory, Childhood (especially till age 5 or so), Milk, Water, Watery places- oceans, lakes, rivers,
ponds, Bathrooms, Travelling related professions/ agents, Seamen, Fishermen, Public opinion, Mass fame
(especially with common man), Leadership like sun but in a gentle fashion (as opposed to burning hot nature of
sun), Changeability/ Adaptibility, Agriculture (especially when related to saturn), Fertility in women, Womb,
Lungs, Breasts, Fluid systems of body – Lymphatic system/ Circulatory (Blood), Tonsils and upper throat area,
Left eye and eyesight in general, Water element.
3) Mars – Energy, Strength, Passion, Ambition, Courage, Dynamism, Aggresion, Adventure, Power,
Competitive Nature, Sudden energy or such events including firearms/ guns/ bombs/ explosions, Sportsmen,
Police officers, Army/ navy personnel, Surgeons, Commanders, Authoritative positions, Significator of younger
siblings (especially younger brothers), Accidents, Wounds, Injuries/ surgeries, Engines/ machines, Fixed/
landed property especially houses/ mansions, Muscles, Nose, Bone Marrow/ Haemoglobin, Metabolic rate,
Reproductive organs for male, Boils/ acne, Fire element.
4) Jupiter – Guru, Mentor, Wise/ learned people, Professors, Authors, Consultants, Priests, Preachers, Wealth,
Significator of Children, Meditation, Fame/ Honor, Merit, Scholarship, Law, Morality/ ethics, Righteousness,
Holiness, Optimism, Positive thinking, Higher learning, Higher education, Extreme quantity of anything,
Fortune, Luck, Divine favor, ‘Jeeva Karaka’ – significator of Life force or life, Prosperity, Liver, Fat in the
body, Most glands in the human body, Ears, Hips, Pancreas, Gall Bladder, Sky element.
5) Mercury – Intelligence, Speech, Child, Wavering Nature, Volatility, Higher education, IQ, Mathematics,
Mathematical subjects like Accounting/ Finance etc., Childhood & adoloscence (~5 to 18 yrs), Money, Stock
Markets, Logic/ analytical thinking, Abstract thinking, Reading, Writing, Communication, Journalism,
Publishing, Technology/ IT/ computers, Humor/ wit, Advertising/ sales, Medicine, Nervous system and nerves
in the body, Tounge, Intestines, Skin, Hands/ arms, Earth element.
6) Venus – Wife, Women, Romance, Sexuality, Affairs, Love, beauty/ harmony, Royal nature, Wining/
dining, Equality, Pleasing/ smiling, Marriage/ partnerships, Flowers, Perfumes/ fragrances, Fashion industry,
Aesthetic abilities, Cinema, Arts, Music, Creativity, Passions, Singing/ dancing, Poetry/ Literature/ painting/
decorating, Luxuries, Jewelry, Conveyances/ vehicles, Attraction, Glamor, Cosmetics, Banking and banks,
Massive wealth (Lakshmi), Kidneys, Reproductive organs for females, Secretions of different sorts, Semen,
Water element.
7) Saturn – Discipline, Duty, Day to day work, Hard work, Limitations, Boundaries, reality, Practicality,
‘Karama Karaka’ or significator of work/ job/ career, Detachment, Cold, Severe, Austere, Slowness, Repetitive
nature, Orthodox nature, Old people/ things/ habits, Grief, Ill luck, Bloackages, Hardened things, Pressure,
Problems, Seperation, Servants and serving nature, Depression, Patience, Resilience, Down to earth nature,
Judge, The planet acts as a great judge in our day to day activity from this and previous lives, Reservation,
Research/ Science, Deep and penetrating, Technical subjects like engineering, Factories, Mining Industries,
Coal, Bricks/ mortar, Darkness/ blindness, Despair, Ankles, Knees, Feet, Legs, Large Intestine, Significator of
hospitalization, isolation, Air element.
8) Rahu – Materialism, Eclipse, Shadow, Sudden, Unknown, Transformative, Electricity,
Electronic gadgets, Ever Changing, Changing residence, Never ending desires, Rebellion, Deception,
Seperation, Foreign culture, Foreign travel, Paternal Grandfather & Maternal Grandmother, Lust, Greed,
Obsessions, Hallucinations, Paranoia, Extreme in nature, Extreme in quantity, Magic, Magicians/ politicians/
diplomats, Con artists, Actors/ cinema, Cheating, Addictions, Drugs, Lepers, Diseases hard to diagnose,
Diseases that are incurable or terminal, Outcaste people, Imprisonment, Siginificator of jails, Fuzzy logic,
Wrong logic, Weird, Eccentric, Extremely charming or extremely repulsive, Poisons, Chemicals, Chemical
Engineering, Computer related work/ study, Abstract thoughts, Airplanes, Flying, Air element. It is considered
like a decapitated head in astrology – ever thirsty but never satisfied.
9) Ketu – Detachement, Moksha, Spirituality, Meditation, Isolation, Enlightenment, Opposite of Rahu in many
things – completely opposite of materialistic, Suspicious, Hidden, Scandals, Like mars- injuries, especially
violent and sudden, Psychic abilities, Intuition, Ghosts, Spirits, Witchcraft, Epidemics, Worms, Poison, Fire,
Weapons, Flying accidents, Cataostriphic events, Significator for Spine and renunciation.
 
Phew! thats what comes to mind with the planets. Now when analyzing houses and planets, an astrology student
should get into the habit of correlating the significations that are common. These will show more floridly in the
character of the person and also during the planetary periods (‘Dashas’) of the planets.
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12 Signs & their Significations (Part I)

After houses and planets, how about the signs?
Firstly a few things to note about signs.
(I) There are 3 types of signs by Flexibility- Movable, Fixed & Dual.
Movable signs – Aries, Cancer, Libra & Capricorn { these represent Activity, Movement, Adaptibility, Change,
Quickness, Reform, Independence, Moving on, Flexibility, Dissatisfaction (leading to rapid change0}
Fixed signs – Taurus, Leo, Scorpio & Aquarius { these represent Steadiness, Rigidity, Headstrong nature,
Fixed, Slow but steady, Accumulation, Steady/ Calm, Resolute, Determined, My way or highway sort of nature,
Loving to remain in one place/ job for a long time, Fixed opinions on spirituality/ religion, Persistent)
Dual signs – Gemini, Virgo, Saggitarius, Pisces [ these represent a mix of both the above and hence their ‘dual’
nature, Learning oriented, Pedantic, Philosophical, Inclined to reading/ writing, Inclined to communicate/
preach/ teach, Open to ideas/ learning, Multitasking, Exploring different options all the time}
(II) There are 4 types of signs by element – Fire, Earth, Wind, Water
Fire signs – Aries, Leo, Saggitarius { Energy, Passion, Aggression, Decisiveness, Leadership, Dominance,
Frank, Outspoken, Extrovertness, Brilliance, Anger, Hot temprament, Fast Metabloic rate, Active, Pioneering,
Separating, Spontaneous, Inspiring, Self centered, Motivated, Visionary, Enthusiastic, Lovers of activity and
movement/ exploration, My way or highway traits, Impatient, Impulsive}
Earth signs – Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn { Practical, Methodical, Analytical, Slow and steady, Perservering,
Rising to top slowly but surely, Patient, Building/ Accumulating, Practical, Realistic, Down to earth nature,
Lover of reality as opposed to fiction/ imagination, Fact oriented, Sluggish, Resilient, Keen business skills,
Knows real materialistic value of things, Good in details, Good Planners, Good Managers/ CEOs/ Directors,
Dependable/ trustworthy}
Air signs – Gemini, Libra, Aquarius { Quick thinking, Intellectual, Abstract thought, Communicative, Eager to
learn, Good writers/ orators/ spokesmen, Quick in physical movement, Love Travel & exploration, Journey
more important than destination nature, Great social skills, Great friends, Pleasant, Philosophical attitude,
Sponge like nature for knowledge, Flexible nature, Harmony loving, Beauty loving}
Water signs – Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces { Emotional, Intuitive, Sensitive, Learning, Passionate, Collectors/
hoarders – collect memories/ articles, Hard to detach, Nurturing/ caring, Motherly attitude, Forgiving,
Imaginative, Introvert nature, Secretive, Psychic, Dreamy, Lesser physical energy, Detached from practical
facts- go on intuition as opposed to facts, Natural meditation skills if developed, Tendency to gain weight}
 
Now there are multiple other ways to categorize signs. But pause here a bit. Now I am going to post the
list of sign rulership by planets, which I posted earlier too. Here is a good exercise to start making these
things intuitive. You know the planet significations, you know the sign characteristics. BLEND them in
your mind. Thats what each rashi signifies. A good exercise to do.
here is an example – Mars rules Aries and Scorpio (but from above you know Aries is a Fire sign and
movable whereas Scorpio is Water & Fixed). So what is Mars?
You know that too from the planet significations. It is Energy, aggression, passion, competitive nature,
ambition, acitivty etc. So in Aries it will manifest as Quick thinking, Brilliant, pioneering, extrovert,
outwardly aggresive, frank, outspoken, quick moving and thinking etc. But Scorpio is a watery sign
which is introvert and emotional. So here the aggressive energy of Mars will take the form of passive
aggresive! They will have all that energy Internalized to give them strong determination, unyielding and
very passionate with strong likes/ dislikes. Unlike Aries, they are not outwardly aggresive, but will not
forget and forgive easily and keep grudges/ jealousies easily. If they learn to control their internal energy,
can be constructive and pentrating like no other giving them deep charisma and control of their senses)
So here goes the list again for rulership of signs. Have at it. Go ahead and try thinking about signs from planets
and sign nature from what you know by now. After some time in part II, I will post the significations of the
signs. But it should now start to be logical and intuitive both, not just cramming up rules.
 
Signs & their ownership-
Aries – Mars (MK sign)
Taurus – Venus
Gemini – Mercury
Cancer – Moon
Leo – Sun
Virgo – Mercury (MK sign) & Rahu (co-ruler)
Libra – Venus (MK sign)
Scorpio – Mars and Ketu (co-ruler)
Sagittarius – Jupiter (MK sign)
Capricorn – Saturn
Aquarius – Saturn (MK sign) and Rahu (co-ruler)
Pisces – Jupiter
----------

12 Signs & their Significations (Part II)

Before a list of characteristics for the 12 signs (like the 12 houses), a few other qualities in continuation of Part I
earlier, regarding the signs are worth mentioning-
(III) Sign characteristics as per Gender of sign
All Odd signs are Male – Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Saggitarius, Aquarius
All Even signs are Female – Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces
The Male signs will tend be to more Extrovert, Pushy, Aggresive, Communicative, Destructive when negative,
Assertive, Dominating
The Female signs will tend to be more Calm, Intuitive, Nurturing, Protective, Quiet, Introverted, Gentle and
Emotional
Besides coloring the depositing planets with the above shades, these demarcations also come in handy much
later on when determining gender of children/ siblings etc.
(IV) ‘Guna’ (inherent nature) of Raajsik, Saatvik & Taamsik
This is a deeper topic but to briefly touch it now-
Saatvik signs – Cancer, Leo, Saggitarius & Pisces – These are related to Higher spiritual thinking and behavior,
Seeking out higher wisdom and truth, Meditating, Focussing, Worshipping God or Nature, Universality and
Altruism in Thoughts and actions, Pure, Learned/ Wise, etc.         [Houses ruled by Sun, Moon & Jupiter]
Raajsik signs –  Taurus, Gemini, Virgo, Libra- These are related to Action and adventure, Passions/ desires,
Energy, Seeking power/ Money / Fame, Ambitious and Materialistic (vs. spiritual)                     [Houses ruled
by Mercury & Venus]
Taamsik signs – Aries, Scorpio, Capricorn and Aquarius – These are related to Pleasing the senses, Seeking
lower order gratification of senses in form of intoxicants/ drugs/ Heavy food, Seeking pleasure in Carnal
desires, Also when negative Tantric or lower order deity worship and Satanic practices, Loving occult and
misusing power, Cruel in nature, Ignorant, etc.                       [Houses ruled by Mars & Saturn]
(V) Some other Misc. Significations
— Violent Signs – Aries, Scopio & Capricorn  [These signs ruled by Mars & Saturn tend to be destructive and
Taamsik in nature and when afflicted in a horoscope will manifest violent characteristics
— Barren Signs – In terms of female fertility (for conception) Aries, Gemini, Leo, Virgo are considered Barren
(not be fruitful for conception).
— Fruitful Signs – For conception are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces (the water element signs)
— Shirshodaya Signs – Rising head first – Gemini, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Aquarius – Planets in these
signs will tend to give results in the First half of their ‘Dashas’ (dont worry about dashas or planetary periods
for now. Its a predictive tool for later)
— Prishtodaya Signs – Rising with Back – Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Saggitarius, Capricorn – Planets in these
signs will tend to give results in the Second half of their dashas
— Ubabodaya Signs – Rising both side – Pisces – Planets in this sign tend to give results in the Middle half of
their dashas
There are many other ways to characterize signs. For now, these are enough to know. With a knowledge of
planet characteristics and sign characteristics, a student can now begin to form simple equations in their minds
which determine the overall nature of Signs.
In part III, I will post the Sign characteristics like the 12 houses, but someone passionate about astrology is
advised to make the signs, houses and planets very intuitive by reading these posts multiple times. upto now, we
are trying to learn the alphabet of astrology. Reading a chart is like reading a book, will come much later. But
rest assured, these pages are giving you pertinent, compact info, all of which is very scattered when a new
reader tries to get them through books/ articles. So Going in order and making these fundamentals solid is
strongly suggested for those serious about astrology.
-----------

12 Signs & their Significations (Part III)

Aries – Active, Pioneering, Bold, Independent, Charismatic, Entrepreneurial, Inspirational, Impatient/ restless,
Good at starting new initiatives/ projects but bad at sustaining energy in long projects, Aggressive, Dominant,
Leadership skills, Outspoken, Bold/ fearless, Loves movement, Loves Speed and fast paced activity, Frank and
direct- holds no punches, Confident, Always serving self-interests, Selfish to some extent.
Taurus – Loyal, Sensual, Slow and steady, Down to earth, Stable, Practical, Determined, Perseverant, Reliable/
faithful, Loves wining/ dining/ fine arts, Romantic but discreetly, Easy going, Diplomatic, Secretive, Passionate,
Loves material possessions, Conservative, Dedicated to home and relationships, Loyal to loved ones, Mostly
calm and extremely agitated when pestered too much, Stubborn/ adamant.
Gemini – Communicative, Intellectual, Think/ talk/ walk fast, Pedantic nature, Loves learning, Good writing/
reading skills, Clever, Versatile, Able to multitask, Can have different personalities under different conditions,
Argumentative and oration skills, Adaptable/ flexible, Witty/ humorous, Good in information related fields,
Loves change and diversity in day to day life
Cancer – Emotional, Intuitive, Protective, Motherly, Nurturing, Good memory, Saves memories/ objects,
Sympathetic, Caring, Loves travelling as long as a stable home to come back to, Loves home life/ finds security
in home environment, Hospitable, Timid mostly but aggressive if loved ones threatened in any manner, Good
business instinct, Ability to learn strong, Honest and Impressionable.
Leo – Leadership abilities, Royal, Noble, Proud, Wanting attention, Cat when loved and a Lion when ignored,
Outspoken, Extroverted, Frank, Honest, Intense, Brilliant, Innovative, Stubborn, Independent, Confident,
Ambitious, Dynamic, Loves to be complimented, Helpful to friend and family, Protective or fatherly, Fearless
& Energetic, Pushy in an aggressive way.
Virgo – Analytical, Quantitative, Intelligent, Research oriented, Practical, Down to earth, Lover of hygiene,
Lover of order, Perfectionist, Anal retentive, Critical of problems/ people, Good trade/ business instinct, Good
Mathematics, instinct, Orderly and Methodical, Economical and prudent, Efficient, Always working, Always
analyzing, Worrying tendency, Hard working.
Libra – Pleasant, Balanced, Co-operative, Perfect, Social, Friendly, Loves justice, Loves harmony, Creative,
Lover of arts/ music/ beauty/ literature, Loves social settings, Charming, Smiling, Diplomatic, Good judgment
of both people and situations, Quick thinker, Extravagant, Loves luxuries, Adaptable, Popular and liked in
friends and people, Good people dealing skills, Good organization skills, Pushy in a pleasant way.
Scorpio – Secretive, Passionate, Intense, Focused, Determined, Obsessive, Unyielding, Strong likes & dislikes,
Outwardly calm with inner turmoil, Strong emotions, Complex imagination, Moody, Temperamental, Does not
forget or forgive easily, Cunning, Good skills to remain hidden – e.g. detectives, spies, etc., Selfish, Psychic,
Penetrating, Can cling to Jealousy and Revengeful feelings, Charismatic, Magnetic, Self-made, Stubborn
Sagittarius – Outspoken, Bold, Optimistic, Idealistic, Loves travel, Spiritual or religious, Strong faith,
Determined, Pushy to some extent, Jovial, Business like behavior, Just, Humane, Friendly, Loves making
friends, Promises more than ability to deliver, Ambitious, Expansive, Outspoken, Blunt in speech to a fault,
Cheerful, Loves to preach and teach, Internal tendency to fields of Law. Medicine, Teaching and Religion.
Capricorn – Practical, Intelligent, Down to earth, Serious, Reserved, Orthodox, Likes to travel, Perseverant,
Rising to the top slowly but surely, Keen business skills, Managerial ability, Organizational skills, Thoughtful,
Patient, Tolerant of others but Conservative, Hardworking, Self-made, Not easily trusting others.
Aquarius – Abstract thinker, Deep thinker, Socially conscious, Serious like Capricorn but more communicative,
Stubborn, Rigid in thinking, Unlike Capricorn – does not like moving and changing situations, Scientific and
research minded, Intellectual, Inventive, Thinking ahead of time,  Creative, Great in making friends, Highly
Altruistic, Unselfish, Rebellious, Loves to Preach change (but themselves reserved to some extent), Great self-
control
Pisces – Emotional, Sensitive, Impressionable, Kind, Giving and forgiving, Dreamy, Romantic, Likes music/
arts, Detached to reality, Somewhat weak in physical and mental activity, Easily trusts others, Moody and
temperamental, Spiritual, Meditative, Likes being alone, Reflective, Forgetful nature, Charitable, Tendency to
Psychic visions and dreams, Inspirational, Softly magnetic and friendly, Happy go lucky, Liberal, Lacking
confidence, Lacking determination to some extent, Intuitive, Indecisive.
 
So, the readers should now have good information about what houses, signs and planets signify. Can not be
overemphasized that these form the basics of astrology and hence very important to become very
well accustomed to – so that these things feel intuitive and natural.
Next we will talk about friendships/ enmities between planets, concepts of exaltation/ debilitation and other
concepts which determine the dignity of a planet in particular signs and houses.
------------

Dignity of Planets (Part Dos)

(III) Avasthas
These are of many kinds. The pertinent one to know early on in learning is ‘Baaladi’ Avastha.
In Odd signs – Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagi, and Aquarius – a planet as per degrees in the sign is in the
following avastha-
0-6 degrees (Infancy) Will give minimal results
6-12 degrees (Adolescence) Will give 1/2 its full potential effects
12-18 degrees (Mature) Will give full effects as per its potential
18-24 degrees (Old) Will give limited effects
24-30 degrees (Near Death) Will give minimal effects if any
For Even signs – Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn & Pisces
0-6 (Near Death)
6-12 (Old)
12-18 (Mature)
18-24 (Adolescent)
24-30 (Near Dead)
These are not to be taken too literally but liberally.
What it implies is that planets 12-18 degrees or more towards the center of a sign is deeply colored as per the
indications of that sign and hence will give those results strongly. A planet more towards the corner of a sign
(Rashi) will tend to blend into the previous or next sign and hence not deeply colored as per that sign.
Mathematically a planet at 15 degrees is right at the center of the sign and hence most ‘colored’ with the
characteristics of that particular sign.
 
(IV) Residential Strength
Slightly more advanced of a concept but still easy enough to mention here.
When a horoscope is made, there is a Rising sign which is called the Ascendant or ‘Lagna’. This will be one of
the 12 signs of course but the lagna as per the birth time will have an exact degree in that sign from 0 to 30
somewhere. Note this degree. This becomes the most effective point of each bhaav for all the signs.
Example Capricorn rises in ascendant at 20 degrees. Now Aquarius will be the 2nd house. But the 20th degree
of Aquarius will give the exact center of the 2nd bhaav which is of money, wealth, family, speech, eating habits
etc. (as you know from the earlier articles)
When a planet in a sign is sitting exactly of 20 degrees for this example, it will have 100% residential strength
and give strong effects of that Bhaav. Plus or Minus 5 degrees from this of the range of 15 to 25 degrees, the
planet still remains strong. Beyond that, the strength in the bhaav goes down by each degree. When the planet is
at 4 degrees in a sign in the above case, it has actually gone into the previous Bhaav. So in the above example
say a planet is at 2 degrees in Aquarius. Now even though that sign is in the 2nd Rashi (sign) it is actually in the
1st Bhaav (which in this example will extend from 5 degrees in Capricorn to 5 degrees in Aquarius.
If this is a bit complex right now, just worry about the first paragraph and not too much about the Bhaav
movement concept called as ‘Chalit’ in astrology
This factor is VERY important when you look at a planet in any bhaav.
 
(V) Shadbala
Translated to English as the 6 fold strength. This is a comprehensive method of Quantifying a planets strength
in astrological units called as RUPAS. Rupas follow a sexagesimal system with 1 Rupa = 60 VIRUPAS
The calculation has 6 main categories. Each category can have as much as 10 sub categories implying the
calculation actually looks at more than 50 different characteristics in the underlying planet. The calculation is
highly mathematical and detailed but aims at Quantifying each planets Total Power or strength. After the
mathematical number is arrived at, there is a Cutoff for each planet. If the planet makes the Cutoff, it is strong
enough to give its promised results, if not then it is weak. Each planet has a different cutoff. Example for
Mercury it is 7 Rupas, for Moon it is 6 Rupas. So if one has Mercury at 8 Rupas, they have a Mercury at 114%
when 100% means adequate strength.
The actual calculation and its logic is way beyond the scope of an online blog and this early on in a student’s
stage. None the less, this is a vital component which can sometimes give counter-intuitive results as a
debilitated planet can actually have a high Shadbala and vice-versa.
JHora software and many others mathematically do these calculations for you. But beware, there is errata in
them. I am in touch with the author and longtime friend of JHora software in fixing some of them. Still it will
give you a good estimate.
One has to be again careful not to rely on this completely, especially before a detailed understanding on the
components and calculations behind Shadbala. It should be used as one of the many shades of strength or
weakness a planet possesses.
 
(VI) Nakshatra Placement
As we have 12 signs (30 degrees each) we have 27 Asterisms or Nakshatras (13 degrees and 20 minutes each)
or 13.33 degrees each. They are ruled by Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn & Mercury (first
9) and then 10 to 18 again by the same lords (in that given order) and 19 to 27 likewise again.
Hence each planet rules 3 Nakshatra each placed equidistant from each other.
The Nakshatra in which Moon is placed at birth is to be noted as the Birth Nakshatra.
Planets sitting in the 3rd, 5th and 7th Nakshatra from it will be weak and tend to give negative results. Planets in
the 2nd, 6th and 9th will give Positive and strong results whereas planets in 1st, 4th and 8th will tend to give
neutral to slightly positive results.
Example birth is Sun Nakshatra. So make Sun as Nakshatra 1
Moon is now Nakshatra 2, Mars is Nakshatra 3 etc. Those planets in the Nakshatra of Mars, Jupiter and
Mercury (because they will be the 3rd, 5th and 7th) Nakshatras will be deemed weak or ineffective and will not
give positive or strong results.
Detailed analysis and explanation is again beyond the scope of this discussion at this stage.
 
There are many other factors to be seen while determining the overall strength of a planet in addition to the top
6 factors mentioned above. However concepts like ‘Ashtakvarga’ (positioning relative to 8 important points),
Divisional Strength etc. are too complicated for discussion here for a beginner in this art and hence diverted for
now.
However one can download the Free software JHora and start looking at many of the factors mentioned above
to get a good feeling of their signs, houses, planets and their strengths or lack thereof.
-----------

Dignity of Planets (Part Uno)

There are many ways to ascertain the ‘dignity’ or state of happiness/ well-being of a planet.
I will mention a few important ones here. Many are advanced topics, too early to be discussed now. Remember
to use these rules liberally to paint a broad brush picture and not too literally once you get to early stages of
judging horoscopes.
(I) Friends/ Neutral/ Enemies
(a) Permanent Basis
In Vedic astrology each planet has a ‘Permanent’ relation with the other planets as one of friend or neutral or
enemy. Remember this might NOT be mutual. Meaning if Mercury treats Moon as a friend, does NOT imply
that Moon treats Mercury as a friend too. Infact in this example Moon treats Mercury as a friend whereas
Mercury treats Moon as an enemy (not even neutral)
Easier for me to tabulate this as below-
Planet Friend  Neutral  Enemy
Sun Mars, Moon, Jupiter Mercury Venus, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu
Moon Sun, Mercury Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Venus Rahu, Ketu
Mars Sun, Jupiter, Moon, Ketu Saturn, Venus Rahu, Mercury
Rahu Venus, Saturn, Ketu Mercury, Jupiter Mars, Sun, Moon
Jupiter Mars, Moon, Sun Saturn, Rahu, Ketu Mercury, Venus
Saturn Mercury, Venus, Rahu Ketu, Jupiter Sun, Moon, Mars
Mercury Venus, Sun, Rahu Saturn, Rahu, Ketu Moon
Ketu Mars, Jupiter, Venus Sun, Mercury, Rahu, Saturn Moon
Venus Saturn, Mercury, Rahu, Ketu Jupiter, Mars Sun, Moon
So the Permanent status never changes. Sun will always treat Saturn as an enemy etc.
 
(b) Temporary Basis
Planets placed in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th & 12th from a planet act as its Temporary Friend
Planets placed in 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th from a planet act as a Temporary Enemy
So this will be different for each horoscope. Example if sun is placed in 3rd house from Saturn, it is its
Temporary friend even though ofcourse it is a Permanent enemy
(c) Add these Up to Get the COMPOUND relation between 2 planets-
Permanent Friend + Temporary Friend = Great Friend
Permanent Friend + Temporary Enemy = Neutral
Neutral +Temporary Friend = Friend
Neutral + Temporary Enemy = Enemy
Permanent Enemy + Temporary Friend = Neutral
Permanent Enemy + Temporary Enemy = Great Enemy
 
(II) Concept of Exaltation
In terms of happiness/vitality/ strength of a planet in a sign, its of the following order-
Exaltation> Mooltrikona Sign> Own Sign> Friend> Neutral> Enmical Sign> Debilitation
Below I post the exaltation and debilitation signs for each planets. NOTE that each planet is exalted exactly
opposite (180 degrees in zodiac) from where it is debilitated or weakest. Secondly each planet, even though
considered exalted in that entire sign, will be exact Peak Power at one particular degree which is mentioned
below. And at the same degree 180 opposite sign, it will be at Nadir or Zero Power. So typically good to have a
planet close to that degree but in an approaching manner rather than receeding. E.g. Sun is exalted at 10 degrees
in Aries. So its going towards its peak 0 to 10 and then goes down a bit, but regardless, it will be considered
exalted in the sign of Aries as a general quick analysis
 
Planet Exaltation Debilitation Mooltrikona
Sun Aries 10 degrees Libra 10 degrees Leo 0 to 20 degrees
Moon Taurus 3 degrees Scorpio 3 degrees Taurus 3 to 20 degrees
Mars Capricorn 28 degrees Cancer 28 degrees Aries 0 to 12 degrees
Jupiter Cancer at 5 degrees Capricorn at 5 degrees Sagitarius 0 to 10 degree
Saturn Libra at 20 degrees Aries at 20 degrees Aquarius 0 to 20 degree
Mercury Virgo at 15 degrees Pisces at 15 degrees Virgo 15 to 20 degrees
Venus Pisces at 27 degrees Virgo at 27 degrees Libra 0 to 15 degrees
NOTE: Rahu & Ketu as written earlier, DO NOT own any house. Hence they act as SHADOW planets. They
give results of houses/ signs they sit in as if they are that sign and also they give results of planets they are
conjunct with. So if Rahu sits with Mars, it will start to behave like Mars.
That said, their exaltation signs do have some controversy with different schools of thought within Vedic
astrology. Over time and with practice and along with Parasari school of thought is what I mention below-
Rahu – Exalted in both Taurus & Gemini.
Debilitated in Both Scorpio & Sagitarius
Acts as MK in Aquarius and Cancer. Own house as Virgo
Ketu – Exalted in Scorpio and Sagitarius & debilitated in Taurus & Gemini
Acts as own house in Pisces
------------

Make Your Horoscope

So by now we are good on the basics on the 12 signs, the 12 houses and the 9 planets and their strengths/
weaknesses.
Armed with these basic building blocks, you can now make a horoscope.
If you have not done already – download and install the latest version of JHora software which is available for
free.
You can now make horoscopes and save these files on your computer. So some basics you need to know in
addition to the signs/ houses and planets are as follows-
(I) TYPES Of Charts–
The main horoscope is something called as D1 or Divisional 1. This is your basic chart for which we already
defined the houses, signs and planets. It’s also the most important of all charts. The complete sphere is of course
360 degrees around us. So dividing in 12 equal signs means each sign is 30 degrees each as discussed before.
Further, this is not the only chart which we should be interested in, albeit the main one. The Divisional charts
will be more apt for particular areas of life. As an example some of these are –
D1 – Main chart for ALL things
D2- Chart related to Money
D3 – Chart related to siblings
D4 – Chart related to fortunes and property/ assets
D7 – Chart related to children/ progeny
D9 – Second most vital after D1 also called as Navamsa (Nav = 9, amsa = division). For Overall Luck, Dignity
of planets and Marriage/ Spouse.
D10 – For career and social status
D12 – For parents
D24 – For higher learning and education/ wisdom
D30 – For problems and miseries
D60 – Very vital chart showing previous life baggage our planets bring in and for ALL things like D1
There are other charts as well. But the above are some important ones for one to be aware of. As a rule D9 is
always consulted in tandem with D1. If a planet has good dignity in D9, the planet is an inherently strong planet
and vice-versa as well. If a planet is well placed in D1 but ill placed (in terms of dignity) in D9, then the planet
is like a hollow diamond. Initially good in results but breaking down later on.
So how are the divisionals calculated?
Simply put D1 has 12 divisions of the zodiac. Each 30 degrees each. Now D9 is a further 9 equal divisions of
each rashi. So what we are essentially doing is to divide each rashi further into 9 parts and hence the zodiac into
12 x 9 = 108 parts. The order remains the same Aries to Pisces. These are now repeated 9 times each instead of
1 time as in the D1. Likewise D10 is each rashi broken into 10 equal divisions.
It’s a good practice to look at a divisional in tandem to the area of life being scrutinized. Example if looking at
career. You will be looking at the 10th house in D1 (and 2nd and 6th) but also look at the D10 chart. Especially
the dignity of the lord of 10th house in the D10 chart will be vital. When both point in same directions, the
effects are stronger.
However keep in mind that if a planet is very weak in the main chart of D1, its strength can never be fully
reversed in the divisional. Meaning D1 dignity will override but strength in a divisional can corroborate or
weaken the FINE tuning of a particular planet.
(II) ASCENDANT
Also known as the ‘Lagna’ is your 1st Bhaav. You already know what 1st bhaav represents. It’s YOU, your
health, your characteristics, personality, overall well-being etc.
Ascendant is the sign which is rising at the Eastern Horizon at a given time and place. Once the ascendant is
fixed the next sign becomes your 2nd bhaav etc.
Almost everyone knows the order. Here it is-
1 – Aries
2 – Taurus
3 – Gemini
4- Cancer
5 – Leo
6 – Virgo
7 – Libra
8 – Scorpio
9 – Sagittarius
10 – Cparicorn
11 – Aquarius
12 – Pisces
Remember the number as it becomes quicker to see what the sign is. Worry not, as this becomes second nature
even with little practice. See example below
This is called a diamond chart (just because of its looks) aka. North Indian style.
The number 10 shows that the first house or LAGNA is Capricorn with Ketu in it. Next 2nd bhaav is Aquarius
with no planet in it. 7th house is Cancer with Mars and Rahu in it. 9th house is Virgo with Mercury, Saturn,
Jupiter and Sun in it and so on and so forth..
One will also be able to see all the degrees of the ascendant and the 9 planets alongside other charts like D3, D9
etc.
What you also see are words like AL, A5 etc. These are ARUDHAS or reflections. Even though this is a
broader topic for later. It is worth mentioning here.
The LAGNA is your ascendant. Its lord is called LAGNESH in the above example is Saturn as Saturn rules
Capricorn. AL is Arudha of Lagna or reflection of Lagna. So even though Capricorn will define the
characteristics of the person etc. But Arudha Lagna will describe the IMAGE of the Lagna or the image the
person has in front of the world. Likewise A2 is image of the 2nd house etc.
Pertinent point to know here is that Arudha concept is very important as it represents what people will think
about that aspect of life, regardless of what it really is. It’s the manifestation so to speak or the MAYA (illusion
related to that aspect of life. In case of Arudha Lagna the person herself). Example in this horoscope there are 4
planets in the 9th house of higher learning, luck, wisdom etc. This is 9th from Lagna. But 5th from Arudha
Lagna. Hence 5th (intelligence) will be what will be perceived by the world around the native as with Virgo
with 4 planets in it.
(III) Long & Short Ascension 
An important point to know, albeit details are not necessary at this stage, but one should know – each day all the
12 signs will rise at some time or the other. However the lagnas don’t rise for exact 2 hrs. each (which would be
logical as 24 hrs. a day and 12 signs gives each sign rising for about 2 hrs.). Due to the earth’s axis which is
tilted, the signs (depending on the latitude of the place) will rise for different times. This effect will be less near
the equator and much more extreme as you go closer to any of the poles.
The software will use the exact geographical co-ordinates you enter and with its inbuilt atlas and ephemeris,
will calculate your horosocpe and all divisional charts and exact longitudes.
In yester years, all these calculations were done by hand and took lots of patience and knowledge in astronomy
to some extent. I have done this quiet a bit before the computers eased all this. Regardless I feel those who have
manually done so have much stronger basics than those who started right off the bat with a software.
Now you have a software, knowledge of charts, signs, houses and planets. Enough to start making your own
horoscope and start trying to find basic dignities of planets.
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Analyzing Basics – I
Now you have your horoscope, you know the planets, houses, signs and dignities. You also know a bit about
divisional charts and the fact that Navamsa or D9 is always studied in parallel to the D1 chart. You also know
about real physical manifestation vs. “Arudha Pads” a little bit.
Things to be noted at this juncture are below –
1) Special Lagnas – You will also see much more data as of now that you wont understand including many
lagnas like Hora Lagna (HL), Sree Lagna (SL), Indu Lagna (IL) etc. All you should know as of now is that
these are ‘special ascendants’ which like divisionals are used for analyzing particular areas of life. Example
Indu Lagna and the chart with respect to Indu Lagna is to be studied with respect to Finances or Money
prospects in a chart. At this juncture, their understanding in detail is not needed.
1b) Gulika & Maandi – Even though not in the main 9 planets, these ‘sub-bodies’ which are actually satellites
of Saturn are considered in Vedic Astrology with somewhat of lesser importance than the main 9 planets. These
are highly malefic entities and usually cause problems and delays/ tragedies in the houses they sit in. Typically
they are considered good only in the 3rd and 11th houses and negative in all others. That’s all you need to know
about them for now.
2) Moon, Sun & Lagna (Ascendant) – The ascendant is most specific for each horoscope and is the Pivotal
point of the horoscope. However each horoscope should be analyzed with respect to the Moon and Sun as well
and from Arudha Lagna (AL) as well. Basic rules don’t change. Just think of the sign where Moon is placed as
the lagna and analyze the horoscope as you would from Lagna and same for Sun and Arudha Lagna. In some
cases 2 or more can overlap. Lets say if a person has Virgo rising and Moon and Sun in Virgo. Now 3 of the
Lagnas become one and your job becomes easier. As a matter of fact, in such horoscopes, the predictions will
get more accurate in general as all 3 lagnas will indicate results in one direction
3) Dignity of Planets – Before you do anything else, take a pen and paper and right down points for each of
your 9 planets and their dignities in detail. Follow the rules of Dignities of planets in detail. Over time this
become 2nd nature and takes much less time, but for now take painstaking time to find the dignity of each
planet.
4) Ashtakvarga – This is a somewhat advanced concept but since you will be looking on the bottom right of
your screen at some terminology which says BAV or SAV, it is worth mentioning about some basics related to
Ashtakvarga-
Ashtakvarga means 8 divisions. Basically the support a planet gets from other planets and the lagna is what is
being quantified here. Support implies relative positioning. So lets say we take Mercury which is placed in 9th
house in a horoscope. Now relative to lagna and 7 other planets (excluding Rahu & Ketu) mercury either gets 1
point or 0 for its relative placement from that planet. If its 0, say from Saturn, then basically Saturn is not
supportive of where mercury is sitting and will not help it in its agenda. Calculations and logic behind this is
beyond the scope right now but do know that this is very important in addition to the #3 above.
Average SAV of any house is 27 points. Anything above 30 is good. Below 24 is low and 24-29 is somewhat
average. SAV is the total sum for all planets in any house
BAV is planet specific as described above. Even though each planet has a different average, roughly speaking 4
or above in any house is good and 3 or below is low. If a planet has say 1 point in a house, then it is not really
supported by other planets in that house at all.
These concepts are more important in transit (even though used a little in basic horoscope also). So if Saturn is
transiting in a house which has say 36 SAV and Saturn BAV of 6 then Saturn will give excellent results in that
house as both these numbers are high and vice versa.
5) Placements – This is the essence of astrology. Take a long time in addition to dignities, to actually look at
placement of planets in different houses. You will have to keep reading the house and planet indications
repeatedly to get a good idea. Initially you might feel blank often, keep at it, there is no other way. Example see
horo below.
You see Capricorn is ascendant. Saturn rules it. Where is Saturn sitting? In 9th house of Virgo. So person
himself (as Saturn is lagna lord) is in 9th house of luck/ destiny/ higher education/ foreign travel etc. 2nd bhaav
is Aquarius. Lord Saturn again in 9th house. So concepts related to Money/ assets/ speech/ family etc. in 9th
house. Keep going for all 9 planets while keeping in mind the dignity of the planets. Strong planets will do good
to their houses and hence significations. So in this example if Saturn is strong in dignity (which it is) it will
protect and enhance the concepts of 1st and 2nd house as well as 9th house. Likewise a weak dignity planet will
show issues related to those areas of life.
Even though good and bad is relative and not absolute. Keep in mind the concepts from the Bhaav write-up.
 
6th, 8th and 12th houses will show problems. Planets sitting in them, unless good dignity will show problems as
well, especially related to the areas those planets rule by houses.
1, 5 and 9 are benefic houses and planets in these will get ‘lucky’ and stronger and will do good to their
rulerships.
4, 7 and 10 are KENDRA or central places and planets in 1,4, 7 or 10 are generally strong to easily manifest the
results they promise in a horoscope.
11th house is one house where materialistically speaking all planets give good results. Its the house of gain,
income, wealth, social circle and friends.
A planet in its own karaka house enhances its results. So if Jupiter is karaka (significator) of 9th house, its
position in the 9th house will enhance the 9th house results as Jupiter feels comfortable in that area as if it
“knows what to do” in that domain of life.
6) Combustion – One concept that is important is combustion. When a planet comes too close to the sun, it
becomes invisible or so to speak. Its burnt from the heat and glare of sun and fails to properly protect its
significations. Implying the the houses it rules, will suffer. Even though this is a detailed discussion topic, for
the sake of brevity consider any planet +/ – 6 degrees from Sun as strong combust and any planet + / – 12
degrees of Sun as combust. Beyond that the planet is no longer combust, even though it might still be more
‘agitated’ due to its closeness to Sun upto even 20 degrees.
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Analyzing Basics – II
NOTE – All material here is completely in my words, Please feel free to reproduce with permission and not
otherwise. (click on pictures to see them bigger) Thanks!
7) Aspects
This is vital. Every planet aspects the house exactly opposite to it or in other words the 7th house. The exact
aspect is at a point 180 degrees from the planet. Example Mercury in Virgo at 17 degrees will aspect Pisces.
More specifically Pisces at 17 degrees but to some extent the entire sign of Pisces. As a rule, as you learn to see
aspects, try to mentally keep the aspect to + and – 5 degrees from exact aspect. This implies that the above
Mercury will aspect Pisces between 17+5 and 17-5 or between 12 and 22 degrees most strongly. For Sun take
+/- 10 degrees
An aspect means the planet will have an effect in that area like a PARTIAL presence in that area as opposed to
actually being deposited in that spot. Also if in the above example say Jupiter sits in Pisces at 12 degrees, then
you can say that Mercury – Jupiter are aspecting each other and hence forming sort of a combination. They will
affect each other both functionally and generically. That means say mercury is in virgo in 9th and Jupiter hence
in 3rd house in pisces. Mercury owns and sits in the house of knowledge, education etc and also a significator of
it. Likewise Jupiter sits in 3rd house of communication and action. In this case mercury rules 6th and 9th house
and Jupiter rules 3rd and 12th houses. SO 3,6,9 and 12 houses are related this is Functional relation (what
planets rule) and the Generic relation is the general characteristics of Jupiter and Mercury are now related. So
since both represent reading/ writing/ education etc, they will increase each other’s effect in that area or work
together so to speak.
So all planets aspect the 7th house. Some planets aspect other houses as following-
Mars – aspects 4th, 7th and 8th
Saturn – aspects 3rd, 7th and 10th
Jupiter – aspects 5th,7th and 9th
Rahu & Ketu aspect 5th and 9th from their respective positions.
8) Exchanges
When two planets sit in each other’s houses, its called a Sign interchange. Example in the above case say
Jupiter was in Virgo and Mercury in Pisces. They are now sitting in each others signs. Astrological significance
is that they get heavily related to each other and merge each other’s qualities together. Also the houses get
heavily related to each other in this case. They sort of ‘work together’ and in tandem and none wants to destroy
the other’s house as it knows the other planet is in its house (good way to think about it)
Then can be Nakshatra (lunar asterism) interchange called as ‘Sookshama’ interchange. This works only in each
other’s dasas (we haven’t talked about Dasas or planetary periods yet, so this is beyond the scope right now).
But the above point of sign exchange is very important. In some way when 2 planets interchange signs, they
are ‘sort of’ actually sitting in their own respective houses for predictive purposes and hence tend to give good
results
9) Think of Planet Karakatvas
Already discussed before. When you see a planet, think of what it represents and what is COMMON in the
house and planet. The common part will show results floridly depending on dignity and strength of planet.
Example in Capricorn ascendant Jupiter rules 12th house and 3rd house. Now 12th among other things =
foreign journeys etc. Say Jupiter sits in 9th house in Virgo. Now this Jupiter will not only give effects of 12th
and 3rd house in 9th but also think Jupiter = guru, religion, higher education, Luck/ destiny and 9th house also
represents Luck, guru, destiny etc. So Jupiter in 9th will give results of both.
Below is a table I compiled to help you think. This is not comprehensive but is a very good starting point to
help you in learning-
10) Positive/ Negative Houses
Trying to summarize a very vast topic in a few points below-
 As I mentioned before 1,5,9 are lucky and good/ auspicious houses
 1,4,7 and 10 are Kendra or central houses and good
 11th house is house of gain and generally any planet in 11th is good
 6,8 and 12 are negative houses and cause delay, pain, agony and blockages/ endings, debts etc.
 3rd house is relatively neutral but tending to negative in results
 Rulers of 3, 6 and 11th houses can be Evil in their results even if on surface the results don’t look evil,
they have a predisposition to do damage
 Rulers of 2nd house and 12th house will give the result of the other house they rule as these are Neutral
houses. If the house is of Sun or Moon (leo or cancer) then the planet owns just one house. In this case
the place where sun or moon sit and the planets they sit close to, they give the effects of those planets
more (like Rahu and Ketu the shadow planets do)
 A generic Malefic Planet owning a Kendra loses its negativity (generic Malefics are – Saturn, Mars, Sun
& Rahu/ Ketu). A generic benefic planet ruling a Kendra loses its benefic nature (Jupiter, Venus, Moon
& Mercury) unless it also own a Kona house (1,5 or 9th)
 Lagna lord or ascendant lord is always auspicious
 Planets good in Shadbala and other dignities protect the houses they rule and weak planets give
problems in the areas of houses they rule
 When a planet rules both a Kona (1,5 or 9th) and Kendra (1,4,7 and 10th) it becomes a Yoga Karaka or a
planet that does extremely good
 Mercury and Moon are impressionable planets. Even though they are generally considered Benefic by
general nature, they give results as per their association. If mercury sits with benefics Jupiter and/ or
venus, it will be benign. If it sits with Saturn, Mars, Rahu/ Ketu it becomes malefic in nature too. Moon
is good when far from sun and Waxing and negative when its dark (close to the sun) darkest is when its
a no Moon night, brightest on full moon when moon is 180 degress away from Sun
 When a planet owns 2 houses, the one which is the MK (Mooltrikona) sign is to be given more
importance.
 Ruler of 2nd house and 7th house is a Maraka or Killer planet as it has potential to end the life (being
12th to 3rd and 8th house respectively which are houses representing the life force in an individual).
Keep in mind a Maraka planet can still give other gains and riches in life as per its aspects, strengths and
placement etc. But it will still have the potential to kill. however if this planet also rules a Kona house
(1,5 or 9th) it loses it potential to kill to a large extent as 5th and 9th are highly benefic houses.
 A planet ruling only 8th or 12th and no other sign (which can happen when Sun or Moon) rule these
generally negative houses, will become Neutral in its functionality
 Combining all rules above, you will notice that Saturn/ Venus/ Mercury/ Rahu form one subgroup and
Mars/ Sun/ Moon/ Jupiter/ Ketu the other group as per natural friendships and rulerships as follows-
11) Planet Functionality Chart (Important!)
This is for quick reference. Again keep in mind, this is just as per rulership and hence if Venus is good for
Capricorn ascendant, its good for all of them. But in an individual horoscope, depending on where Venus is
placed and its strength/ aspects and dignities, the results will be modified of course-
 
--------

Analyzing Basics – III

12) Eclipses
When the sun-moon axis aligns with the Rahu-Ketu axis, a Solar or Lunar eclipse occurs respectively.
Think of this as reverse of combustion in terms of Sun. When any planet comes too close to the Sun, it gets
‘invisible’ or ‘burnt up’ and loses power to protect the significations of the houses it rules in the chart. However
the opposite occurs when Sun comes close to Rahu or Ketu. It is “swallowed” up, or so to speak and becomes
weak. Within 8 degrees of Rahu or Ketu, this is more prominent.
Another thing to be noted is when Moon is too close to Rahu, the mind gets predisposed to Paranoias,
obsessions and phobias. In addition the mind and emotions get an extreme nature in their intensity and such a
person can have wild swings in their moods/ feelings and imagination. This can also disturb sleep and other
things which Moon is a significator of like mother, sleep etc. Likewise when Sun is too close to Rahu the ego
gets amplified in a negative way, there can be problems to or with father or authority/ government.
 
Also to be kept in mind is the fact that both the nodes expand the characteristics of any planet they sit with, but
in a weird-Karmic or psychological fashion. Ketu can increase a planets energy by internalizing that energy and
Rahu by externalizing. Hence Moon with Ketu can give a detached mind (from materialistic things) but if Moon
is otherwise strong, the person has strong powers of concentration. Likewise Sun with Ketu can make for a
spiritual soul and person whose ego is checked. If Sun is weak in dignity that can mean self-esteem issues, but if
Sun is strong it can imply a very well balanced/ humble personality which has powers of concentration and
good ideals/ morals in life.
 
13) Nodes
Things to be kept in mind regarding nodes are-
 Will give results of the bhaav they sit in and rashi and Nakshatra they sit in and its lord. So example if
Rahu is in Cancer, it will act like Moon (owner of Cancer) and so dignity of moon in chart will also
dictate intensity and nature of results of Rahu
  They amplify and reflect the effects of planets they are conjunct with. E.g. in the above example when
Rahu is with Mars in Cancer, it will not only give results like Moon but also like Mars as it will ‘mimic’
or reflect Mars. So whatever Mars promises in the chart will be given by Rahu
 They create some order of confusion and uncertainty in the houses they sit in. The house where Rahu
sits in is the area where the native will put in a lot of energy in this life time and run after the issues of
the house. The house where Ketu sits in, the person will be sort of detached to the significations of that
house.
 Typically Rahu and Ketu give good results in the 3 rd, 6th, 10th and 11th Bhaavas and relatively negative in
the other bhaavas
 Both Rahu & Ketu will tend to give sudden results in their planetary dasas related to houses they sit in
and planets they conjunct. Positive or negative will depend on the planet and bhaav and their dignities
 By inherent nature, Rahu acts like Saturn in terms of blocking, delaying, throwing problems in a native’s
path and Ketu acts like Mars or giving anger, sudden results/ surgeries/ injuries etc. But this inherent
nature is modified as per planets they conjunct of course. So if Rahu sits with Venus in a chart, it will
tend to give results like Venus and whatever Venus rules in that particular chart
 If Rahu or Ketu sit in a Kona house (1,5 or 9th) and are conjunct or aspected by a Kendra lord (1,4,7 or
10th) then they will give Yoga Karaka results or very good results. This will happen if Rahu-ketu sit in a
Kendra house and conjunct or aspected by a Kona lord
 If Rahu or Ketu get related to the 8th house by placement or conjunction, their malefic nature increases
and more so the likelihood of some sudden even goes up manifold. This is because 8 th house also
represents sudden events and Rahu and Ketu are Karakas (significators) or sudden events
 
14) Planetary War
When 2 planets are so close to each other that they have less than 1 degree space in between them, they fight for
space and it’s called ‘Grah Yudha’ or Planetary war. This is usually negative. The planet with the higher degree
is deemed as the Winner and the other the Loser. Notably the Loser planet will always manifest some problems
related to the significations of houses in rules. Example Mars at 10.2 degrees and Venus at 10.8 degrees in
Aries. In this case Venus wins the war and Mars loses as Venus is ahead of’ Mars
 
15) Yogas
Coming to a topic which is perhaps in the top 3 of most important in terms of analyzing a horoscope. This topic
is vast both in depth and breadth and takes years to master. Yoga means a combination of 2 or more planets in a
given sign. Generally the closer the 2 or planets are to each other in terms of longitudes (degrees) the stronger
the Yoga.
 
In Vedic astrology there are thousands of Yogas. These is simply because of all the permutation/ combinations
possible for 2 or more planets conjoining each other.
 
Good Yogas are generally called as ‘Raj Yogas’, wealth yogas are called ‘Dhan Yogas’. A negative Yoga can
be a ‘Dur Yoga’ or “Arishtha Yoga’.
 
Among thousands of Yogas, BV Raman mentions 300 very important ones in one of his treatises, which I
would highly recommend to the reader.
 
As of now, for the scope of this article, a few things worth knowing are as follows–
 
 Lords of a Kona (1,5,9) combining with each other is exceptionally good
 Lords of a Kona (1,5,9) combining with a Kendra lord (1,4,7 and 10) is also a great +ve Yoga
 Lords of Kona or Kendra combining with a Dusthana (6,8 or 12) lord is Negative
  Lords of two Dusthana lords combining with each other is called ‘Vipreet Raj Yoga’ or in other words –
ve/-ve becomes positive. This Yoga typically works after initial difficulties and struggles which lead to a
heavily positive scenario later
 Since the lords of Dusthana carry negativity with them, it is best if they are situated in another Dusthana
(example 6th lord in 8th or 8th in 12th or 12th in 8th) etc.
 Any house whose lord is in own house or exaltation will try to enhance the significations of its rulership
house
 When a planet is combust or debilitated or weak in dignity as per the dignity rules we know, it will give
problems related to the area it rules in the horoscope and also the area it is placed in
 As mentioned before when a planet rules 12th, see its other lordship. Even though 12th is a dusthana, if
the other house it rules is a Kona then the results will be good and not bad. Example for Gemini Venus
rules the 12th house and also the 5th But Mooltrikona sign is 5th. Hence Venus will give more of 5th house
which is great. So a well placed Venus will give very good results inspite of its 12th rulerships
 Very important point to note is that Good and Bad yogas can co-exist and not really cancel each other.
As an example say a person has Capricorn rising with Saturn (1st and 2nd lord) with mercury (6th and 9th
lord) and Jupiter (3rd and 12th) lord all in 9th house, then 1, 2 and 9 combining in the 9th is a strong Raj
yoga and positive. Jupiter in 9th will tend to give good results too as it’s a neutral planet for Capricorn
(refer to functionality of planets) but still it is also the 12th lord in 9th and 6th lord in 9th This implies the
person can be fortunate and rich (1st and 2nd lords in 9th) but also wavering health (1st lord combining
with 6th lord) and can have relations with father disturbed or lose his father early in life (12 th lord in 9th of
father and 6th lord in 9th). Thus when analyzing any Yoga, -ves and +ves can co-exist.
 
Please note that softwares like Jhora and others might even list many of the Yogas. But one has to keep in mind
that how much a Yoga will manifest depends on the strength/ dignity of planets involved and closeness of Yoga
and many other factors the reader has already learnt as of now.
 
16) Dashas & Transits
Again an extremely vast topic which we are not going to discuss right now.
What we have discussed till now is some basics of what signs, houses and planets represent. How dignities of
planets can be seen and a horoscope made. By all those tools one can see the promise within a horoscope.
However WHEN a good or bad event precipitates is to be seen by predictive tools of Dashas and Transits.
These are used for TIMING the events and the promises a horoscope holds. These topics will be dealt with later
 
Next I will post a couple of detailed Case studies of well-known personalities and even from what you have
briefly learnt as of now, you can see how the theory applies in analyzing a horoscope.
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Analyzing Basics – Transits (I)

This topic even though broad & deep, should be discussed before the reader looks at horoscopes.
The planets are always moving. A snapshot of the astronomical picture at the moment of birth is your
horoscope, but the planets keep moving right after the snapshot.
Transit analysis is the process of utilizing this dynamic process for any present of future time frame and in
context from a horoscope as a reference point.
The following is the rough estimate of a stay of each of the 9 planets in a given sign-
Sun – 1 month
Moon – 2.25 days
Mars – 45 days
Mercury – 21 days
Venus – 26 days
Jupiter – 12.5 months
Saturn – 2.5 yrs (30 months)
Rahu, Ketu – 19 months
So here are the points to know regarding transits-
 Analyze transits from Moon first and also Lagna
 Parasara emphasized the importance of transit (“Gochara”) from the Moon as the Moon is a karaka of
our mind, feelings and emotions and hence our day to day life/ events will be best reflected in how we
think/ feel/ emote. Hence primary importance has to be given to Moon when analyzing transit of planets
 Transit should also be seen from Ascendant sign and both have to be kept in mind for the overall result
 The transit of Jupiter, Saturn & Rahu/ Ketu is more important because they are slow moving as from the
table above. Saturn is the slowest and stays in a sign for an average of 30 months in a sign.
 Moon is in a sign a for tad less than 2 ½ days each and hence its transit along with other fast moving
planets is more for fine tuning whereas the transit of Saturn, Jupiter, Rahu/ Ketu is for setting bigger
trends in life during any given time period(s)
 The following are the houses in which the given planets are considered Auspicious or Benefic from
Moon and also the houses from which the planets are considered Inauspicious or Malefic when
considered from the Moon:-

 So as an example for a Taurus Moon sign, Saturn will be good while transiting Cancer, Libra and Pisces
and negative in others (in the 3rd, 6th and 11th bhaav respectively)
 Saadhe- Satti (Meaning 7 ½ yrs) this (in)famous concept comes from the fact that when Saturn transits
the 12th, 1st and 2nd from Moon, a 7 ½ period of stress, misery and negative events can dictate onto a
person. Likewise Saturn transiting 4th and 8th from Moon are called Dhaiyas of 2 ½ yrs of misery like
the Saadhe- Satti. It is important to note that not all this time is equally bad or good. The dasas, other
transits are also vital before judging the period good or bad
 Another important point is functionality which you already know. If you refer to the readings above,
Saturn is a highly benefic planet for say Taurus and Libra moon sign/ ascendant. When these signs have
Saadhe- satti or dhaiyas, they will face some stress and negative issues but overall the period will be
functionally good for them and give them progress
 
 Double Transit phenomenon (Important!)
The signs which both Jupiter and Saturn aspect in their transits are “activated” so to speak. This is because
Saturn is the Karmakaraka or significator of our actions/ karma and destiny whereas Jupiter is Jeeva Karaka
showing where our intentions/ blessings and fruits lay. So when both aspect one sign, that sign gets Activated or
turned ON. For example currently Jupiter is in Cancer and Saturn in Scorpio. Thus Jupiter is affecting Cancer,
Scorpio, Capricorn and Pisces (remember the 5, 7, 9 aspects?) and Saturn is affecting Scorpio, Capricorn,
Taurus and Leo (3, 7, 10 aspects). Common in all this is Scorpio and Capricorn. Hence these signs will be
activated. So say Taurus Moon sign (or ascendant) the 7th bhaav (Scorpio) and 9th Bhaav (Capricorn) is
activated. So now you know which areas are in focus to these individuals and what the bhaavas signify you
know from the earlier chapters
 Rahu-Ketu axis will show the problem area, if you will, during any given time. So as an example for
Gemini moon sign currently, Rahu-Ketu are in the 4th-10th axis and hence the axis, which among other
things, governs peace, happiness, private life, emotions and career, job, social image etc. Also to be kept
in mind is that Rahu even though malefic in general also tends to at times open some hidden doors in
terms of sudden opportunities governing the area it transits in, especially if Jupiter is also aspecting that
sign. Example if Rahu is transiting the 10th bhaav and Jupiter is also aspecting 10th bhaav during transit,
then sudden opportunities in career can open up, but Rahu will also tend to give stress and obstacles in
the process.
 Rahu- Saturn together aspecting a sign during transit and with no aspect of Jupiter on that sign calls for
heavy Karmic testing of that area of life and possible separation from relatives/ people ruled by that sign
also. Example if Saturn and rahu both transit the 9th house, the person can face bad luck situations and
also get separated temporarily or permanently from father or Guru or mentor/ boss/ employer (which 9 th
house represents)
 Jupiter transit over any house or planet will tend to expand, easen and smoothen the results the bhaav or
planet represents. Example if Sun rules the 10th house, then Jupiter transiting over natal Sun degree
(even the entire sign where Sun is) will tend to expand or improve results related to job/ career
 Saturn transit will bring out the results of the sign or planet it transits over into FOCUS. You cannot
escape those topics of life in that time (even if you were earlier). Saturn by itself is not positive or
negative but has a general tone of slowing things down as it takes 30 months in one sign. It will JUDGE
you as per your efforts and caliber and karma in that area and give results accordingly. These can be
negative or positive as per the planet’s strength and dignities. Saturn will keep that area of life in focus
till it transits to the next sign. By that time it would have deemed that the native has learnt the required
lessons (good or bad) and time is now to focus on things represented by the next sign.
 
 Ashtakvarga (Vital)
I have talked about this before. A small recap-
Each planet can have 0 to 8 BAV score in each sign, the more it gets in a sign, the better its result in the sign.
The software will calculate this for you. Likewise SAV scores is for the entire sign (combination of all planets
BAVs in that house) Average for this is about 27. Higher the better. If a sign has say 42 SAV bindus, most
planets will give very good results there. By the same token say 8 th bhaav from Moon has 42 SAV score and 6
BAV score for Saturn. Now 8th from Moon is generally negative for Saturn transit. But in this case due to so
high SAV and BAV scores in that sign, Saturn will actually not harm at all and perhaps give some sudden gain
related to say inheritance or protect you in an accident etc. (significations of 8th house)
 Moon transit during Transit start This concept is important, especially for slow moving transits of
Saturn, Jupiter and the nodes.
Consider the bhaav (relative to Moon sign) where Moon is at the moment a bigger transit is happening (example
Saturn transit). Although this can be used for smaller transits of Sun, Mars etc. also, its significance is higher for
slower moving transits as they stick around much longer. Now once you have noted this, see table below.
 
Example Saturn is transiting into 6th bhaav (from 5th). This is a great transit. On exact time of transit, if moon is
placed 4,8 or 12 from its original position in horoscope, then the transit occurred on “Iron feet” and the good
results of transit will not be fully felt. Likewise even if the transit is negative but starts with Gold or Silver feet,
the results will be less bad than otherwise anticipated
 Vedha & Vipreet- Vedha
A more advanced topic, not fully discussed for now. ‘Vedha’ means an “obstruction”. When planets transit
auspicious places (as per table above) but there is another planet transiting a ‘Vedha’ location, then the
auspicious results are put on HOLD due to this other planet. ‘Vipreet’ means reverse and Vipreet Vedha is the
opposite of Vedha. An example will make it clear. Saturn transit in 3rd from Moon is auspicious as discussed
above. Its Vedha location is 12th from Moon. So when Saturn is transiting 3rd from Moon, if another planet
transits in the 12th from Moon (except Sun) then the Positive effects of Saturn are put on HOLD and don’t show
up and the effects of that planet in 12 th take prominence. Likewise if Saturn is transiting 12th (a negative
location) but another planet transits the 3rd house, then there is Vipreet Vedha- implying Negative effects of
Saturn are on Hold now due to the focus being on the effects of this planet in 3 rd from Moon. Not all positions
have a Vedha and hence Vipreet Vedha, the positions are tabulated in various textbooks and astrological
literature. Understanding the concept is of importance at this stage
 Transit of Dasha Planets
Even though transits of all 9 planets are important, the transits of the 4 slower planets are more important as
explained above. In addition, the transit of planets who’s Maha Dasa, Antar dasa is operating (concepts not yet
discussed) will be also prime importance. Example if a person is in the Major period (Maha Dasa) of Venus,
then the transit of Venus will ofcourse gain high importance along with the 4 slower planets, etc.
----------

Analyzing Basics – Transits (II)

In part (I) you learnt most of the concepts to be utilized while analyzing transits. This was a pretty elaborate list
of points to know while analyzing how a transiting planet will behave through a particular sign and Bhaav.
However for the sake of completion of this article, some other things are worth mentioning as well. These
concepts should be at least mentioned, even though a detailed explanation avoided at this stage to prevent
information overdose or confusing a learner.
Some additional factors to be considered while analyzing a particular planet are –
 Transit from Lagna (in addition to Moon)
 Transit from Arudha Lagna
 Transit from the natal position of planet itself
 Bhaav bala (another concept like Shadbala is for planets, Bhav bala calculations aim at quanitifying the
strength of a bhaav)
 Shadbala of owner of Bhaav in horoscope
 Istha phala of owner of Bhaav in horoscope
 Average SAV and BAV bindus (dots)
 Planet transit from Natal planets in D1, D9 & D60
As an example, let me produce the following horoscope as a reference again-
Now for analyzing the effects of Rahu in this horoscope in transit through various signs, I put together a
worksheet as below  (click to enlarge). The results are plotted with the straight line representing the average
quantified number for each sign. Below 0 is negative and above 0 positive (duh!). Average is +0.6. The higher it
is, better will be the results of Rahu transit.
 

 
The reader might at this stage realize that this is time intensive and complicated mathematically. This example
is just meant to be a thought exercise. In regular practice, one will not have the time or energy to go through all
these details, but with experience a lot of them will come to an astrologer intuitively. You have to take my word
for it now. But for a beginner, it is always a good practice to know the minions that make the gears turn and
understand that over simplifying this art will also tend to give incomplete results in general and hence should
not be done so.
----------

Benefics/ Malefics
In order to ascertain the benefic/ malefic nature of a planet:-
o We look at the functional nature of planets as explained in an article before and repeated here for
reference –
  General Nature of planets is important though Functional Nature above will take the front seat always.
General Nature is-
Benefics- Jupiter, Venus, Bright or Waxing Moon & Well associated Mercury
Malefics – Saturn, Rahu, Ketu, Mars, Sun, Ill associated Mercury and Weak/ dark Moon
 Dignity of planets as explained in detail before. Strong planets are Benefic whereas Weak planets give
problems related to areas of life they rule in the horoscope along with their general characteristics.
Example if Sun is weak and rules 10th house, it will damage not just career/ job (10th) but also general
things it signifies (from list before) like father, government etc.
 Planets sitting in Kona (1, 5, 9) will improve their already existing nature and planets in 6, 8 or 12th
bhaavs will worsen their nature
 Even though this topic is already discussed in detail before, it is important to note that many other things
can help quantify the actual nature of planets involved. Just to give you a taste of quantifiable factors,
take a look at the example below. Again this much detail is not required as of now, much of this will
become intuitive with experience, but a peek into the possibilities is shown as below (quantified in a
spread sheet)
 In this analysis one can consider factors like – Type of Nakshatra or star (lunar asterism), functional
nature of depositing star, functional nature of depositing sign, generic nature of depositing star, generic
nature of depositing sign, positions in various divisionals especially D9, aspects from natural or
functional benefics & malefics etc.
The example is same horoscope you have seen in some other examples –
 
Quantifying the Benefic/ Malefic Nature of planets –
Results are as below (average score is about 14 where the straight line is). Higher the score, more benefic the
planet will be in its Dasa periods-

 
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Analyzing Basics – Dasas (I)

Ok ladies and Gents. Coming to a crucial and a vast, deep topic of Dasas (planetary periods)
It is an ever-vital and indispensable tool of Jyotish in predicting the timing of future events.
Let me mention out-front, the topic is extremely wide and deep and in these tutorials (meant for the beginner) I
will be giving only basic yet relevant information, which will arm the reader with the necessary tool missing in
combination to her Transit tool. Once armed with both, you are on your way to be able to start making
predictions which amaze yourself and your friend and family 🙂
So Dasas in Jyotish are of many kinds (JHora gives the option of about 50 or more of them!)
These differ by calculation methodology and applicability and frame of reference (planetary dasas, rashi dasas
etc.). Here we are going to talk about the most frequently/ widely used dasas and that too briefly in the interest
of time and the scope of this article.
Among the most commonly used dasas is the Vimshottari dasa (which is an almost default dasa an astrologer
would refer to if he mentions the term ‘dasa’). As per Parasara, it is a dasa applicable to All across the board
except a few exceptions as explained below-
Vimshottari is started/ calculated as per the exact longitude of Moon at the moment of birth. Moon as you know
represent the mind, emotions, thought process/ intelligence among other things and is the primary significator of
the above. This is one of the wider differences between Jyotish and other schools of astrology across the globe –
Jyotish puts a heavier emphasis on the Moon, arguably due to the logic that whatever happens around us and
with us, affects our feelings, emotions and thought process which are signified my the Moon and hence its
importance. Also to be noted is the fact that the Moon is the fasted moving entity of the 9 planets and hence the
most ‘specific’ differentiator  in terms of difference between 2 individuals born at relatively close time
intervals. Moon takes about 2.25 days to cover one sign of 30 degrees whereas the Sun takes a month. Thus
making the moon more specific than the Sun in this example.
Due to the above considerations, as per Parasara, as long as the mental faculties are developed meaningfully
enough, Vimshottari dasa will always be applicable. Now of course the exceptions will be very young
individuals (say below age 6 to 8 yrs) or extremely old individuals or individuals with an impaired mental
ability like medical mental retardation etc. are the cases where Vimshottari might not be applicable. However as
long as the native is older than 8 yrs. of age and mentally ‘not challenged’, Vimshottari will be applicable.
So lets discuss this dasa system. The moon covers 27 Lunar asterisms (nakshatras) and 12 signs in one
revolution, like other planets. Moon takes about 28 days approximately for one such circle so it covers a little
less than 1 nakshatra per day (roughly). 360/27 = 13 degrees and 20 minutes or 13 1/3 degrees (length of one
nakshatra)
the Nakshatras, as mentioned before in an article are of the 9 planets (3 times each) and follow the order of
Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury. Then repeat 2 more times the same order.
Once the exact degree of moon is known, it can be calculated that how far has moon progressed into that
nakshatra. Lets assume moon is in Venus nakshatra at the time of birth and has travelled 3 degrees and 20
minutes in it. It implies that Moon has traversed exactly 1/4th of the Nakshatra of Venus and 3/4 remains. Now
look at the following table for Vimshottari-
Sun – 6 yrs
Moon – 10 yrs
Mars – 7 yrs
Rahu – 18 yrs
Jupiter – 16 yrs
Saturn – 19 yrs
Mercury – 17 yrs
Ketu – 7 yrs
Venus – 20 yrs
For a total of 120 yrs. Vimshottari assumes a total of 120 yrs cycle for dasa. In the rare even that someone lives
beyond 120 yrs, the dasa sequence will start again for a 2nd cycle.
So coming back to our moon which had traversed 1/4th of the Venus nakshatra, what it implies is that 3/4th of
that is left OR 3/4th of the 20 yrs of Venus is left as a balance at the moment of birth or 15 yrs. So this native
will have Venus dasha at the time of birth till his 15th birthday and then sun MD will start for 6 yrs, followed by
Moon MD for 10 yrs etc.
The sequence and quantity of dasas is FIXED and never changes for any individual. Only the starting
point changes as per Moon longitude at birth
So what we just described is called the Mahadasa or MD in short which is Level I dasa. Below this level will be
level 2 dasa called Antar dasa or (AD). Below that would be 3rd level called Pratyantar Dasa (PD) and so on.
Technically its a FRACTAL calculation which goes to infinite levels. But important to note is that even till
level 6, you will reach a time frame which is already in minutes or hours (as opposed to years of Maha Dasa)
and hence for all intents and purposes the first 3 levels are the most important. Finer levels can be used for fine
tuning.
Next important point to note is that in each MD, the first AD will be the MD lord itself and then the next AD
will be next planet in the sequence and so on. The time frame remains fixed as per the ratio of MD contribution.
Pay attention here. What this means is- say Moon MD just started. First AD will be Moon itself and time frame
will be in ratio of 10/120 (because Moon has 10 in the MD slot in the above table of a total of 120).
Next AD will be Moon/ Mars with a time 7/120th of the 10 yrs of moon MD or 7 months when you calculate
Next AD will be Moon./ Rahu with a time of 18/120 of the 10 yrs of Moon MD or 18 months when you
calculate and so on till you reach Moon/ Sun of 6 months. After Moon/ Sun ends, the Moon MD of 10 yrs is
over and you start Mars MD of 7 yrs and so on and so forth
Very much like the above, the 3rd level dasa will be the same as the AD lord itself and then from there. So
Moon/ Moon/ Moon will be followed by  Moon/ Moon/ Mars then Moon/ Moon/ Rahu etc. (Again time frame
in same ratio as described for AD above)
 
Good news is that the calculations are all done by the software, however one still has to understand the above
logic and hence the ‘method behind the madness’
People with good mathematical skills will quickly realize a Fractal pattern in this, which for some reason is
increasingly seen in nature in terms of Golden ratio etc. (beyond the scope of this discussion and hence I wont
digress much)
Now once you know what dasa a person is running, keep the following factors in mind-
 MD lord sets the Major trend in life
 AD lord gives the finer trend within the MD period and is very important for a relatively shorter time
frame
 PD lord is usually a few months to a few weeks and PD and beyond levels are for fine tuning the effects
of MD and AD lords
 starting from MD lord, analyze what the MD lord planet rules in your horoscope (the bhaavs it rules)
also analyze its dignity, aspects and placement in details as described in previous chapters
 Do the same for AD lord and PD lord etc
 Then analyze how the MD and AD lord are related to each other and use the compound friendship
analysis as described in the dignity of planets article
 Events are precipitated when the dasas indicate so and the transits also indicate in the same direction.
Important now is to note what I mention in the Transit articles – transit of MD and AD lords and even
PD lord is very vital as per description in those articles
 As an overall ‘mantra’ Dasa Proposes, Transit Disposes. Hence correct prediction lie in the ability
(developed over experience) in harmonizing the signs given by both. Ideally when you get more
knowledge and experience, more than one dasa is also used to confirm results, but for now (and believe
me for 99% of astrologers) Vimshottari is enough to prevent information overdose for the student.
I will write more points regarding dasas in the subsequent articles, but the reader can now start checking the
dasa they are running in JHora by clicking on the ‘Dasas’ tab on the top of the software and selecting
Vimshottari dasa among the ‘Nakshatra dasas’ tab in the feature. Click on the time period of an MD and a drop
down will keep giving you lower levels of AD, PD etc. Try. Practice…
 
---------

Some Important Jamini Concepts to Know

Changing gears a little bit from our discussion, which has been focused on Parasari astrology, I mention some
rules related to Jamini astrology. Jamini Sutras are by themselves a complete astrological school of thought and
by no means anything that can be covered in one article or even 100. However I mention here some very vital
concepts which a student should get into a habit of checking in each horoscope.
Following this article, I will, in a short while cover a few case studies which should make many of the concepts
discussed so far more holistic sense in terms of application to horoscopes.
I) Rashi Drishtis – As opposed to the ‘grah’ or planet drishtis that we have already discussed at length, Jamini
dictates the rashi drishti concept. This drishiti (=aspect) is more permanent in nature as opposed to grah drishtis
and will color the specific area throughout life for an individual (not dependent on dasas and transits of the
involoved planets)
a) Dual Signs – Any planet in the signs – Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius or Pisces will have a Rashi drishti or Sign
aspect to all other signs of dual nature. Example Mars placed in Gemini will aspect Virgo, Sagittarius and
Pisces as per the sign aspect
b) Fixed Signs – Any planet in a fixed sign – Taurus, Leo, Scorpio & Aquarius will aspect all the Movable signs
except the one right next to it. For example if Sun is in Taurus, it aspects all movable signs except the movable
sign next to Taurus (Aries). Hence such a Sun will aspect Cancer, Libra and Capricorn
c) Movable Signs – Reverse of #b above. All planets in a movable sign will aspect other Fixed signs except the
fixed sign right next to them. Example saturn in Libra will aspect all fixed signs – except the fixed sign next to
the planet (in this case scorpio). Hence such a saturn will aspect Taurus, Leo and Aquarius
Very important to note that these aspects are of the entire sign and not the planet itself. As an example a person
has Arudha Lagna of Taurus and has Venus in Libra. Now although Venus has no (full) aspect on Taurus as a
planet aspect but it will have an aspect of the sign from Libra onto Taurus. What this implies is that the
observable or apparent characteristics of the native (what Arudha Lagna dictates) will be permanently colored
by a nature which is akin to Venus in Libra.
II) Arudha Pads – These have been discussed before. Arudha means a reflection. Arudha Lagna or AL is the
reflection of the 1st house or lagna. A2 is the reflection of the 2nd house and so on. When analyzing any
Arudha, keep the Rashi aspects as discussed above in mind. Important to note that UL or Upapadha Lagna is the
Arudha of the 12th house and denotes the spouse. Ideally the location of AL and UL should not be 6,8 or 12
from each other for a good relationship between the person and his/ her spouse. When analyzing the
characteristics of a spouse, look at the rashi drishtis (in addition to the grah drishtis on the the UL) this will give
good clues regarding the nature of the spouse and his/ her characteristics.
Arudha pads is also an extensive topic and for the purposes of preliminary learning the discussion as of now
should suffice with a deeper dive later in advanced topics.
III) Chara-Karakas – Char = Movable and Karakas = Significator
As opposed to Sthira Karakas where Sthira = fixed
This is an extremely important gem of Jamini sutras and I give in a very high importance in the analysis of any
horoscope. Sthira karakas have already been defined earlier. They are the permanent significations of each
planet. As example Sun is a Karaka for father and government and likewise Moon is a karaka for mother etc.
Sthira karakas by definition never change, regardless of the longitude of that planet in a horoscope or the
position of that planet in a horoscope.
On the other hand, a Chara- karaka changes as per the longitude of the planet in a given horoscope. As per the
advancement/ progression a planet has in any sign, its portfolio or karakatwa changes. This is the Chara-Karaka
scheme.
The planet which has the most advanced degree among all the 9 planets, in any sign, becomes the Atma-karaka
or the significator of the soul or the person himself. This is somewhat like the lord of the ascendant and equally,
if not more important, in the analysis of any horoscope.
Likewise the other Chara -karaka significators are determined as follows. In the order of descending or
decreasing longitudes of a planets in a horoscope-
1) AK – Atma Karaka (Soul)
2) AmK – Amatya Karaka (Intellect/Mind/ Career)
3) BK – Bhratri Karaka (Siblings)
4) MK- Matri Karaka (Mother)
5) PiK- Pitru Karaka (Father)
6) PK – Putra Karaka(Children)
7) GK – Gnati Karaka(Collateral relatives)
8) DK -Dara Karaka(Spouse)
Note- Almost all softwares including JHora will give you the Chara karakas with the abbreviations used above.
Example Mercury is at 27 degrees in a sign of an individual and that is the maximum of all planets, it will be
called AK or Atma Karaka for the individual
The importance of these karakas can not be over emphasized. When you wish to analyze the career of a person,
the way an astrologer should think about is –
1) Lord of the 10th house and 10th bhaav itself
2) Lord of 10th house and 10th bhaav from Moon
3) Lord of 10th house and 10th bhaav from Arudha Lagna
4) D-10 or Dasamsa divisional chart
5) AmK planet – its dignity, placement, shadbala, aspects and strength in D1, D10 and D9
6) Saturn is Sthira karaka for job/ profession and its aspects/ dignity/ strength and placement etc.
Likewise when analyzing the spouse/ marriage, not only is it vital to look at 7th house and its lord but also the
DK as above and D9 divisional chart which signifies marriage
Generally AK and AmK should be strong and well placed for a good overall position in life and a good practice
to always check the AK and AmK planet strength in D9 always along with D1
Without going into too many technical details at this stage, I would recommend – “Mixed 7/8 planet chara
karaka scheme of Parasara” to be selected in the options of the software. There are many schemes, mostly based
on a 7 planet or 8 planet scheme of chara karakas. Important is to note that Ketu is never any of the Chara
Karakas, Rahu on the other hand can be but only in cases when 2 or more of the other 7 planets happen to fall
on the same longitude. It will get very complex if I discuss this. As for now, please note that the 7/8 karaka
scheme of Parasara is by far the most accurate scheme based on my own researches over the years. This is also
the default scheme in many softwares. But some advanced softwares like JHora give an option to change it if
one wishes to.
------------

Yogas – Part I
Another immensely crucial topic which needs to be addressed before doing some case studies.
There is no possible way to ‘short cut’ through this topic, which is immensely wide as well as deep. There is,
however, a way to jump start the process for a learner, who can then graduate to advanced books on the same
including 300 Important Combinations by Dr. B.V. Raman, which is a book i recommend for this topic.
Yoga, as mentioned earlier, is a combination of 2 or more planets which can have a positive or negative effect
as per the functional and generic nature of the planets involved. This is the essence of Vedic astrology and a
topic which takes years to master, but that said, some basics can be grasped quickly. Most detailed softwares
will spit out the various combinations present in a horoscope. However, keep in mind – a mere presence of a
Yoga does not imply actual manifestation of its positive or negative results, as might be, to a full extent. Other
factors including strength and dignity of planets involved in the Yoga, the closeness in terms of longitudes the
planets are separated from each other as well as the strength/ dignity of the owners of the rashi, nakshatra
depositors of the involved planets will dictate the intensity of a Yoga.
Another vital parameter to be considered is the closeness from the Bhaav Madhya as discussed before. The
closer the combination occurs to the middle of a bhaav, the stronger the effects in that particular bhaav and vice-
versa
I hereby give some important Positive Yogas below in a very generic fashion for a beginner and hence focus on
the concept behind the Yoga and not perhaps the specific Yoga or its nomenclature, which will confuse learners
in the field.
I) Raj Yogas – A wide class of Yogas which are positive by definition and aid in the financial and mental well
being of the individual in whose horoscope they form. They are are of many kinds.
a) However get into a habit of looking at the owners of the 1st, 5th and 9th houses. These form the Bhagya
Trikona or the Fortune triangle. The owners of the houses will always be friendly to each other and 2 or all 3 of
them are connected via conjunction or mutual aspect, they form a Raj Yoga or combination of good luck/
fortune. If this occurs in the 1st, 5th or 9th house itself, it is even better. It is also great to form in a Kendra
house -1st, 4th, 7th or 10th
b) Likewise a combination of a lord of 1/5/9 with a Kendra lord or 1/4/7/10 is also a Raj Yoga as long as the
planets involved are functional benefics for the ascendant. Keep in mind 1/5/9 are always functionally benefic.
However the lords of 4/7/10 can be positive, neutral or even negative in some cases. Refer to the functional
nature of planets article earlier.
II) Panch Mahapurush Yogas – or 5 great men (literal translation) These Yogas are formed when one of the 5
non luminary planets – Mars, Saturn, Venus, Jupiter or Mercury are in their own sign or exalted sign while
being in a Kendra house (1/4/7/10 bhaav). This is a very good Yoga to have and the functional as well as
generic nature of the planet becomes enhanced to a large extent. Example when Venus is in Libra in 10th house
for Capricorn, it forms ‘Malavya’ Yoga which will enhance the functional nature of Venus (rulership of 5th and
10th bhaav in this case) as well as give wealth/ luxuries (general significations of venus) to the individual
III) Vipreet RajYogas – These are formed when 2 negative lords combine. Namely lords of 6th, 8th or 12th
houses (which are considered functionally negative) combine in any bhaav. This Yoga is more powerful if it
occurs in a dusthana house itself – i.e. 6th or 8th or 12th bhaav and does NOT involve lords of good places
especially of 1,2,5 or 9th house. This combination typically portrays a -ve with -ve turning into very positive
effect. When correctly formed, such a yoga can give massive riches and a steep rise in a person’s career/ job/
social status.
IV) Parivartana Yogas – Parivartana means exchange. When two planets are placed in the other’s sign
respectively, they are swapped and will ‘work with each other’ or in tandem. They exchange each other’s
properties and to some extent, the planets behave functionally as if they are sitting in their own signs
respectively.
Example for Leo rising, Mars is in Leo while Sun is in scorpio. This forms an exchange of the 1st and 5th lords
Again, like in Raj Yogas, remember that an exchange between 1 trikona lords is extremely auspicious. Meaning
if 1/5/9 exchange with each other, a strong Raj Yoga results. Likewise a swap of a Kendra (1/4/7/10) ruler with
a Trikona (1/5/9) ruler or a Kendra lord with another Kendra lord are very positive as well.
However the exchange of a Kendra or Kona lord with a dusthana lord (6/8/12) is a negative Yoga and causes
miseries. Example for Aries rising, Mars is in Virgo (6th bhaav) and Mercury is in Aries so a Trikona (1st) lord
exchanges with a dusthana lord (6th)
V) Neecha Bhang RajYoga – Another category of potent Yoga is Neecha Bhanga Raj Yoga is Neecha Bhang
Yoga (NBY). This occurs if a debilitated planet sits in a kendra bhaav (1/4/7/10) and its depositor is either
sitting in conjunction with the planet or in a Kendra from it. It also occurs if the depositor is in exaltation as
well as if an exalted planet sits in the same sign as the debilitated planet while the debilitated planet sits in a
Kendra bhaav (1/4/7/10)
Typically this is a potent strong Yoga and will give strong benefits related to the rulership of houses of the
planet involved, but only after some initial setbacks/ failures or delays.
Example is Capricorn rising with Mars in 7th house in Cancer conjunct with Moon in cancer. In this case Mars
gets NBY and will become a strong benefic as long as its strong in shadbal and has good aspects on it. Such a
Mars will give initial pressures in its dasas but ultimately cause great strides in the life of the individual,
especially related to the houses in rules – in this example 4th as well as 11th
VI) Mridanga – When exalted planets or planets in their own sign sit in a Trikona or Kendra Bhaav, they cause
great positive results related to the houses they rule and also their generic significations. Typically such planets
elevate the entire life/ status of an individual in their dasas if they are in good dignity as per the many scores of
quantifying dignity of a planet as discussed in other articles
VII) Dhan Yogas – When the rulers of 2nd, 5th, 9th and 11th bhaavs combine with good dignity, they cause a
Yoga which gives wealth. If the combination occurs in 2/5/9/11 or any Kendra house (1/4/7/10) then this Yoga
is stronger (as opposed to occuring in 3,6,8,12 bhaavs). The logic is that the 2/5/9/11 bhaavs rule over wealth in
one way or the other and hence when 2 or more such lords combine, a combination for wealth creation is made.
Typically good to have the ascendant lord also in this mix for this Yoga to be stronger.
Another strong Dhan Yoga occurs when the 5th lord is in 5th and 11th lord in 11th, hence aspecting each other
fully in great dignity. Even when 5-11 lords exchange, the same occurs as long as the planets are in good
dignity.
VIII) Laxmi Yoga – When the lord of 9th house is exalted in a Kendra house or is sitting in its own house in
great dignity, Laxmi Yoga results which blesses the native with great fortune, wealth and intelligence as these
are the significations of the 9th house of destiny/ fortune and crystallized intelligence/ higher education
IX) Jamini Yogas – These are of many types. However a good practice is to look at the placement and dignity
of Atmakaraka (AK), Amatyakaraka (AmK). When these 2 lords combine, especially in a Trikona or Kendra
house, a RajYoga results
 
The above are some of the very important positive combinations. Hundreds of other kinds exist and are
important to know. However the above are absolutely crucial to know well for any astrologer. In part II of this
article, I will cover some more positive as well as negative yogas to watch out for. Beyond that, the beginner is
set with all necessary tools to start looking at horoscopes and we will look at some case studies of well known
figures.
 
-----------

Yogas – Part II
In continuation for Yogas Part I, below are some more positive as well as negative Yogas-
X) Kahala Parivartana – A kind of Parivartana (exchange) Yoga where a non-dusthana bhav lord (dusthana is
6,8 and 12) interchanges signs with the lord of the 3rd house. This Yoga brings out fluctuations in destiny and
success of an individual and rise and falls fluctuate in life. The 3rd house represents self effort and will power,
but is a partial dusthana house as well. So as an example when the lord of 10th and 3rd interchange, either the
profession/ career of the native will see many ups and downs OR the person will have to make a lot of effort
with minimal success in the beginning and true rewards for the efforts will come much later in life.
XI) Dainya Parivartana – A kind of Parivartana yoga where a non dusthana lord exchanges signs with a
dusthana lord. Example lord of 5th house interchanges signs with the lord of the 6th house. This is a negative
Yoga and the manifestation is typically struggles and problems related to the 2 houses involved.
XII) Kartari Yogas – Kartari = scissors. These can be both Negative and Positive depending on the involved
planets. For these Yogas, consider ONLY the Generic nature of planets and not the Functional nature. Meaning
for this analysis Jupiter, Venus are always positive. Mercury and Moon are positive when bright and sitting with
benefics. Saturn, Rahu, Ketu, Mars and Sun are always Negative.
When a particular house is surrounded by malefics on both sides, Paap Kartari Yoga is formed (Paap = sin) and
is a negative Yoga which will damage and delay the significations of the affected house.
Inversely when a given bhaav is surrounded by 2 benefics, a Shubha Kartaari Yoga is formed. This enhances
and amplifies the positive significations of the involved house and helps the bhaav prosper and flourish without
many problems.
Example Sun in 6th, saturn in 7th and Rahu in 8th bhaav. In this example the 7th bhaav is battered because it
has a natural malefic saturn and is also surrounded on both sides (6th and 8th bhaav respectively) by natural
malefics. This forms a Paap Kartari Yoga. This will damage the marital prospects of the individual, even though
the final outcome will depend on the strength of the 7th bhaav along with its lord.
XIII) Daridra Yogas – Daridra = poverty. This is not to be taken literally everytime this Yoga forms in a
horoscope. However this yoga generally indicates struggles in the field of finances for the individual. It forms
when ascendant is occupied and aspected ONLY by Natural malefics (not functional malefics) and the
exception is that the natural malefics should NOT rule either the 9th bhaav or the 10th bhaav. If they do, the
negative Yoga does not occur.
Example – Leo rising with Lagna having saturn and Ketu and Jupiter, mercury and venus do not aspect the
ascendant. Daridra Yoga occurs. In case Leo has only Sun and Mars (even though both natural malefics) daridra
Yoga is Not formed as in this case the ascendant has the 9th lord in it as well as the ascendant lord itself. This
infact is a strong RajYoga.
XIV) Kemadruma Yoga – This occurs when there is no planet on either side of Moon as well as in conjunction
with the moon (Rahu and Ketu do not count). Further Moon should not be in Kendra (1,4,7,10). It is a negative
Yoga.
Moon is the mind and is impressionable and emotional by nature. If no planet is near Moon and Moon is also
not in a Kendra bhaav, it will feel lonely and confused. Typically such individuals are socially shy and/ or
awkward and can be introverts or misfits in general life. They feel lonely even when in company of others as
they constantly feel they are not understood by others.
I feel if the above conditions are met, Kemadruma Yoga occurs to some extent. However a 100% kemadruma
Yoga occurs only when the above conditions are met and also no planet sits in kendra bhaav from the ascendant
as well.
Either ways, usually in the 2nd half of life, such individuals improve their depressive/ lonely tendencies and
they become more (relative to before) social and ‘normal’.
XV) Shraapit Yoga – Shraapit = cursed. This Yoga occurs when Saturn and Rahu reside in the same sign in a
horoscope. Further if they are also in the same Nakshatra, then it will be even stronger in manifestation. If they
are more than 15 degrees apart, the Yoga is formed only mildly.
Typically the actions of the individual (saturn) can be shady or hidden (rahu) and the destiny of the person can
be very delayed in manifestation in life. Such individuals might have to struggle quiet a bit for minimal reward
of their efforts.
However, for Venus ruled ascendants or Saturn ruled ascendants, Rahu and Saturn become functional benefics
and hence the Yoga does not cause too much damage. Also if this occurs in the 3rd house or 11th house, the
Yoga can give much material success to the individual in addition to some blockages in progress. It is the worst
to be formed in the 8th, 12th, 1st or 2nd house of a horoscope. Dignity of saturn and rahu and aspects on the
combination are vital to be considered before giving blanket predictions of disaster related to the bhaav where
both these planets are situated together
XVI) Gaj-Kesari Yoga – This yoga is a positive one. It is formed when Moon and Jupiter are in Angles to each
other. This implies when Moon and Jupiter are in positions which are 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th from each other in the
horoscope. In this case the individual gets strength to moon (mind) and Jupiter (luck and growth) and is lucky
and successful due to good judgement and emotional status. The person might be spiritually inclined and be
lucky to have blessings from some mentor/ guru in life. However the dignity of moon and jupiter is vital to be
seen as well as the functional nature of moon and jupiter in the horoscope as per the ascendant.
XVII) Guru- Mangal Yoga – When mars and Jupiter either conjunct or are in opposition to each other (1st or
7th from each other) and both have good dignity in the horoscope, the actions of the individual are energetic and
righteous more often than not. This is as Mars represents actions/ energy and Jupiter is righteous and expansive
by nature
XVIII) Visha Yoga – Visha = poison. When Saturn is deep conjunct with Moon in the basic horoscope, this
negative yoga is formed. Such a person has a tendency to depression as well as psychological issues in life,
especially if moon is low in dignity/ shadbal. They seem to be very serious in nature and will easily get upset
and sad over trivial issues. However if both planets are in good dignity, then the person can get mass fame as
well. This is because saturn represents the masses (general people) and Moon represents fame
XIX) Angaarak Yoga – When Mars and Rahu conjunct in a horoscope, the person is prone to anger and
violence. Such individuals can have a big ego or anger issues and can go off the handle in a second. They can be
normal one minute and violent the next. Typically this will affect the bhaav such a yoga is placed in very
negatively. However the damage is much lower in the 3rd or 11th bhaavs where such a combination can give
great material benefits to the person. On the positive side, if the planets are in good dignity, such a person has a
never ending fighting spirit and can do wonders as sportsmen, army or police personnel or fields where great
courage and activity is required
XX) Chandra Mangal Yoga – When Moon and Mars are in conjunction or opposition, this Yoga is formed. By
itself it is a positive yoga which gives a sharp mind and powers of concentration to the person. It makes the
person logical and ‘street wise’ which in turn gives them a good ability to make money. However if the planets
involved are low in dignity and/ or afflicted, the person will have anger issues along with blood disorders as
well as bad relations with one’s mother
 
I will discuss more positive and negative yogas in part III. The idea is not to cover the entire list of 1000s of
yogas. But to give a good taste for the few important ones which will get a student’s mind thinking about Yogas
in the right direction
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Yogas – Part III

Part three for the Yoga Primer-
XXI) Yogada & Maha Yogada – These are based on Jamini principles. Please refer to rashi drishti concept
articles if you are not aware of how Rashi drishtis work (example a planet in a dual sign will aspect all the other
dual signs via the Rashi aspect). Also remember that among special Lagnas, HL = Hora Lagna (indicates
wealth) and GL = Ghati Lagna indicates power and authority.
Now if a planet aspects both the Lagna and the HL, then its a Yogada Yoga giving Wealth and prosperity
If the planet aspects both the Lagna and the GL, then the forming Yogada yoga gives Power & authority
Likewise if a planet aspects all 3 – Lagna, HL and GL then a Maha Yogada yoga is formed which gives power,
wealth and authority to the native
These yogas get activated during the dasas of the planet which is involved in forming the Yogada or Maha
Yogada yogas
XXII) Naabhasa Yogas – These Yogas are very broad/ generic in nature. I do not pay much heed to them.
These are formed when the 7 planets (except Rahu/ Ketu) are placed in x number of signs. x can range from 1 to
7. Depending on ‘x’ a specific yoga is formed which can be positive or negative. Example when x =1, Gola
yoga is formed which is negative. When x = 4, Kedaara yoga is formed which is positive. It is important to
know that Naabhasa yogas do exist, although I do not give them much importance as they are very broad Yogas
and will not act independently. Hence I do not discuss these in detail here
XXIII) Kaal- Sarp Yoga– When all the 7 planets excluding the nodes are situated on one side of the Rahu-
Ketu axis, Kaal Sarp yoga is formed. Please refer to the article on Kaal-Sarp Yoga in the advanced Topics
section which details this yoga in depth. Generally, this is deemed as a negative formation
XIV) Amala Yoga – When only natural (not functional) benefics occupy the 10th house from the Lagna or
Moon, this yoga is formed. It makes the person virtuous in his actions in day to day life for which he will earn a
good reputation in society. Example Capricorn Lagna and only Venus sits in the 10th house of Libra sign,
Amala Yoga is formed, in this case a strong one as Venus is in Mooltrikona sign and if non combust and direct
in motion, will be strongly placed
XV) Kalpdruma/ Parijata – This is a highly strong and potent Yoga which generally elevates the entire
horoscope and hence the potency of other positive Yogas in the horoscope to a large extent. This Yoga is based
on the dipositor principle. As mentioned before, a planet gains strength when its sign and/ or Navamsa depositor
is in high dignity (example own house or exalted).
Parijata Yoga is formed when the Lagna lord, its depositor and the Rashi and Navamsa depositors of the
depositor of Lagna lord are all situated in a Kendra (1,4,7,10) or Kona (1,5,9) and are in high dignity – i.e.
exalted or own house and not combust (bright).
This Yoga increases the vitality of the entire horoscope and the other positive yogas in the horoscope will
manifest more intensely due to this Yoga being present in a horoscope
XVI) Shubha Yoga – A Kartaari yoga as has been discussed before. This is positive. It forms when the 12th
house and 2nd house deposit generically benefic planets (Jupiter, venus, mercury and Moon). This gives
strength to the Lagna (as it is helmed between 2 benefics) and if the lagna also has a benefic, this is even
stronger
XVII) Ashubha Yoga – A Paap Kartaari yoga (negative) where the 12th and 2nd house deposit generically
malefic planets (Saturn, rahu, ketu, mars, Sun). Since Lagna is now helmed between malefics, the power and
auspiciousness of the 1st house is greatly reduced
XVIII) Pravrajya Yoga – When 4 or more planets are situated in the same sign, especially if in a Kendra or
Kona house, this Yoga forms. The more the number of planets, the stronger the Yoga. This indicates too much
energy in one aspect/ area of life and hence a mismatch of energies in a particular aspect of life for the
individual. Such people will come across as having intense personalities and over a long period of time, they
tend to become detached towards the materialistic pursuits of life. Keep in mind that detachment does not
equate to sainthood always. Even a person going through the daily grind can have a tendency to be detached to
his daily work. This yoga is especially pronounced if it occurs in the 10th bhaav as 10th bhaav represents our
career/ job/ social status and Karma (actions)
XXIX) Tapaswi Yoga – Tapaswi means a Saint. When Saturn, Ketu and Venus are either conjunct (same sign)
or in exact trines to each other (same nakshatra) then this Yoga occurs. Saturn is a detaching planet by nature.
Ketu represents Moksha or renunciation and detachment from all materialistic pursuits of life. Venus on the
other hand represents the pleasures and attachments of life including romance, marriage, wine/ dine, luxuries,
vehicles, etc. When Venus is conjunct or affected by the austere planets Saturn and Ketu, the person will not be
attached to materialistic pursuits in life. They will either not have too much materialistic possessions, or even if
they do, they will not be attached to money/ materialism too much. They generally tend to like dedicated,
altruistic and austere pursuits in life
XXX) Vasumati Yoga – This is a positive and wealth giving yoga. Upaachya bhaavs are – 3rd, 6th, 10th and
11th. These bhaavs improve with age and time as life progresses. When a lot of generic benefics  (Jupiter,
venus, mercury and Moon) are placed in Upaachya bhaavs, this Yoga occurs. Thus if all 4 of the generic
benefics are placed strongly in the 3rd, 6th, 10th or 11th bhaav of a horoscope, a potent Vasumati Yoga is
formed which gives wealth and status to the native
So we have covered 30 kinds of important Yogas (both good and bad). As I mentioned before, there are
thousands of permutations and combination possible of the planets and hence as many Yogas in theory. This list
of 30, is hence, far from comprehensive. The reader is advised to read 300 important combinations by Dr.
B.V.Raman for an indepth dive into Yoga formation.
That said, the last 3 articles serve to enlighten the reader with some very important Yogas which the reader
should familiarize themselves with for a good reading of a horoscope in addition to the other chapter in this
“Lessons” series.
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Some important Special Lagnas

An important topic in addition to the topics I have covered for a student of astrology is – Special Lagnas or
Vishesika lagnas
As you know by now that Udaya lagna (rising sign) along with Moon lagna and sun lagna & Arudha lagna are
always important for a comprehensive analysis of a horoscope, Parasara delineated some “Special” lagnas
(Vishesika) lagnas that should be seen in order to analyze particular aspects of life like power/ name & fame or
Wealth/ affluence in a native’s horoscope.
The mathematical analysis of deriving these lagnas is an advanced topic and not the point of discussion in this
article. This article is designed for a beginner to make aware of these lagnas and not to overlook them while
analyzing the horoscope holistically. For now rely on your software’s ability to correctly calculate these lagnas
and know that these lagnas are very sensitive to time of birth, which should hence be known as accurately as
possible to rely on this analysis.
Basic methodology remains the same – Treat the special lagna sign as the lagna and analyze all the
planets and Yogas from there, very much like you would analyze from the rising sign (ascendant)
I) Hora Lagna (HL)
Shows up as HL in the JHora software. This lagna is to be utilized to analyze the financial status or well being
of the individual. Treat the sign in which HL is placed as the lagna and analyze the horoscope from it. Important
is to see the strength of the HL sign lord and placement as well as aspects on that lord and the sign. Also look at
the 2nd house and 11th house from the HL sign and their lords as well as their placement. The stronger the
better. When HL lord is exalted and well placed, especially in a non dusthana (6,8,12) position from the HL
sign, it bodes very well for the financial status of the individual.
Dont forget, however, that this analysis is in addition to guaging the strength of 2nd lord from lagna and Arudha
lagna as well and not independent of it. Example is the chart of Warren Buffet below (Click to expand view)
Note HL in Gemini at about 12 degrees. Firstly HL sits in a Kendra sign and deposits Jupiter as well as Mars
which are functional benefics for the Saggitarius ascendant.
Most importantly Mercury as the ruler of gemini is exalted in Virgo. Mercury is in 10th from lagna and 4th
from HL (both kendra positions) and causing a strong Bhadra mahapurush yoga. It is also placed with its friend
venus. Hence HL lord is exceptionally strong and placed centrally.
2) Ghati Lagna (GL)
Shows up as GL in the JHora software. This lagna is to be seen for analyzing the power and authority of an
individual. Indirectly that can also refer to the status of individual in society as well as his/ her rise in career.
Look in the Warren Buffet horoscope again. GL falls in Virgo! Needless to explain in detail as we just
discussed the position of Mercury which is very strong. So both GL and HL fall in Mercury signs, the rule of
which is deeply exalted and strongly placed in Kendra. Further note that GL falls in the 10th house itself. Which
is by default the sign of professional success and power in a horoscope. This triply reinforces the analysis of
Mercury as lord of 10th in 10th being great.
Hence for an astrologer looking at Mercury placed exalted in 10th causing a mahapurush yoga and hence good
rise in life, noticing that GL coincides with 10th house should strengthen his belief in his prediction of a great
career and social status of an individual
Lets take another example of Bill Gates. See the horoscope below-
HL is in Capricorn. Ruler of Capricorn co-rules the 2nd house from HL and is saturn. Saturn is exalted deeply
in Libra and in the 10th house (kendra) from HL causing Sasa yoga (mahapurush) from HL lagna. Not just that,
saturn is deeply conjunct its best friend Venus which is also in its Mooltrikona sign and hence very strong itself.
Considering HL as Capricorn, this is a double whammy in positivity. It causes Malavya mahapurush yoga as
well as Sasa yoga and a conjunction of 2 deep friends both of which have great dignity.
Now look from Arudha lagna (AL) which is the image to the world. AL is virgo with mercury exalted in the
lagna itself causing bhadra mahapurush yoga. 2nd to Virgo for wealth is Libra sign in which saturn is exalted
and venus in own sign. This corroborates the reading from HL
Now look at GL or Ghati lagna power/ fame/ authority. In this case GL lies at 28 degrees in Libra. The lord of
Libra is Venus in own sign at around 28 degrees! not just that, it is joined by an exalted best friend Saturn at
similar degrees! This shows tremendous name fame and rise in career. Dont forget when you look at the
horoscope treating Libra as lagna, saturn becomes Yoga karaka as it rules 4th and 5th signs and hence a great
functional benefic. When such a benefic is deeply exalted with its best friend Venus in its own house, this is a
tremendous and powerful Raj Yoga of success.
 
3) Indu Lagna (IL)
To be utilized exactly like HL explained in #1 above. It is used to see the financial well being of an individual.
Note that Planets placed in Kendra or Kona position from IL give good wealth in their dasas whereas planets in
3,6,8,12th from IL will cause financial problems to an individual
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Sidereal vs. Tropical

One of the most frequent questions I am asked, especially in the ‘West’ is the difference between the ‘Western’
and ‘Eastern’ schools of astrology or in other words Tropical vs. Sidereal Astrology?
 
To clarify all the discussions here on this website are based on Vedic Astrology which utilizes a Sidereal zodiac
as opposed to the Tropical zodiac. Even the “astrology illiterate” probably understands the outcome of the
difference between Sidereal vs Tropical. The entire zodiac shifts which changes the signs/ houses and hence
planetary positions. As an example, as per the Western – Tropical zodiac, a person born on September 7 is a
Virgo. As per Vedic astrology – Sidereal zodiac, the individual is a Leo.
Another important point is – 3,000 yrs. from now, the individual born on Sep 7 would definitely be Virgo as per
the Tropical Zodiac. However this might have shifted as per the Sidereal Zodiac!
The reason can get very technical in terms of physics/ astronomy. The difference is due to a frame of reference
with respect to an observer on earth, in a simplified way – where exactly does zero degrees of Aries start and
hence starts the zodiac with 12 signs (30 degrees each).
Without getting into any technical details or complications, the simple explanation is that the tropical zodiac
does not incorporate the fact that the earth not only has a rotational axis, but the axis itself is slowly rotating. A
phenomenon described in Physics as ‘Precession of the Equinoxes’.  
One rotation around the earth’s axis obviously takes about 24 hrs., One rotation of the axis itself takes about
26,000 years.
The Tropical year will be approximately 20 minutes shorter than the Sidereal year.
The two systems will be the same every 26,000 years approximately (25,772 years to be precise). However
in between these years, the systems will continue to have a divergence. This divergence will cause the relative
start and end points of the zodiac signs to be different.
The astrological scriptures described this Precession by a Sanskrit word called as ‘Ayanamsa’ (translated as
AYAN = movement, AMSA = component) or Movement Component. Vedic astrology takes into account this
difference in its calculations and Ayanamsa is the longitudinal difference.
In the Vedic astrology scriptures these difference in calculations is explained in detail and the Tropical system
is called ‘Sayana’ & Sidereal system is called ‘Nirayana’.
One very important point to note is that the sages who wrote the earliest known vedic astrology texts
(Bhrigu Parasara Hora Shastra) mathematically quantified the Ayanamsa (Precession of the equinoxes)
at least 2500 yrs before Hipparchus (the Greek astronomer) studied and quantified it in astronomy/
physics by observing the relatively ‘fixed’ star SPICA in the constellation Virgo around 190 BC.
The above is simplified to a large extent for the casual reader to understand. There is a lot of research in this
field and to be noted is the fact that lately the Western school of thought has many modified versions too which
incorporate this movement in one form or another.
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Conditional Dasa Systems

Conditional Dasas (Nakshatra Dasa Category)
As I mentioned in Analyzing Basics – Dasas (I), Vimshottari is a dasa which is applicable to all. (except
perhaps the very old, the very young or mentally challenged where the mental faculties are very poor as
signified by Moon)
Certain dasa systems are applicable when certain criteria is met ONLY. An important point to note here is that
the great sage Parasara (father of Jyotish) established that when more than 1 dasas are applicable in a
horoscope, the ‘Rarer’ one should be given prime importance.
So as a default take Vimshottari to be applicable to everyone (100%) or atleast >90% of individuals
Now lets take an example of Chaturseeti Sama dasa. This dasa is applicable ONLY if 10th lord is in the 10th
house of the horoscope. Statistically speaking, 1/12th of people will have 10th lord in the 10th house. This
implies 100 x 1/12 or 8.34% of people.
Now it is clear that 8.34% is much more rare than more than 90% of people. hence in this case, give Chaturseeti
Sama dasa more importance than Vimshottari. BUT keep in mind Vimshottari is always applicable and hence
can not be ignored!
I explained how Vimshottari is calculated in the last writeup. I will not be explaining the mathematics behind
the special dasas I mention here due to the fact that each has a detailed logic which requires a lot of analysis. At
this stage this is not required for the reader. Good news is that JHora will give you all these dasas, if you need
them and the need for manual calculation does not arise
Underlying theme for all planetary dasas remains the same. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd level planetary periods are
important to analyze carefully along with transits to dictate events during any given time for the native.
I give some important conditional dasa systems below for the knowledge of the reader-
(1) Chaturseeti Sama Dasa as I already mentioned is applicable when 10th lord is in the 10th house (Rarity =
8.34% of population)
(2)Dwi-Saptati Sama Dasa – Applicable when Lagna lord is in the 7th house OR 7th lord is in the Lagna
(Rarity = 16.68% of population)
(3) Shat-Trimsa Sama Dasa – Applicable when birth is daytime in Sun’s Hora or at night time in Moon’s
Hora. Hora = hour lord or the planet that rules the hour of birth. This is seen as an output on front page of
JHora. (Rarity = 11.11% of population)
(4) Dwadasottari Dasa – If Lagna is in Venusian Amsa. Amsa can be many kinds. So the definition will
change as per the reader hence a bit controversial. I take Navamsa as the meaning. (Rarity = 16.67% of
population)
(5) Sataabdika Dasa – If Lagna is Virgottam. Meaning the same sign rising in the ascendant and the Navamsa.
(Rarity = 11.11% of population)
(6) Panchottari Dasa – If langa has Cancer in D1 and Cancer is rising in D12 divisional chart as well. (Rarity
<1% of population)
(7) Shashti- Hayani Dasa – If Sun is in the Lagna. (This does sound a bit vague but nonetheless can be a good
research topic. I have not yet correlated this dasa with many case studies) (Rarity = 8.34% of population)
As you notice when any of these dasas are applicable in a chart, they will be more ‘Rare’ than Vimshottari. But
importantly 2 of these might be applicable example a chart can have Sun in lagna and 10th lord in 10th. In this
case 3 dasas are applicable – Vimshottari, Shashti – Hayani & Chaturseeti Sama dasa
Now in the above bullets, you will notice that out of these Shashti Hayani and Chaturseeti sama dasa are
applicable in 8.34% of the people. So what should the astrologer do?
Typically see if Sun is stronger than the 10th lord sitting in 10th in terms of shadbala, dignities and other factors
we have already learnt in some of the lessons before. It becomes a judgement call. The Stronger one will have
the prominent dasa.
That said, in reality all will operate to some extent. Meaning all the 3 above as Vimshottari is always applicable.
Point is not to overwhelm the astrologer, but to help support or negate events that she sees in one dasa in
another dasa system.
An important Observation here for the reader is that many of these conditional dasa systems DO NOT
recognize Rahu/ Ketu in the planetary periods. The underlying cause is that these dasas are giving
prominence to something Other than the Moon (from which Vimshottari is calculated). Rahu/ Ketu are
the Nodes of the Moon and act on a subconscious level as strong Karmic forces from previous lives. Their
applicability is more from a Lunar perspective than otherwise and hence the absence of these periods in
some of the Conditional dasas.
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Generic Effects of Mars (Mangal/ Kuja)

In continuation to the series for the generic malefics, which for obvious reasons, invoke more fear and hence
questions directed to me by people, this article talks about Mars. Mars teaches via sudden and usually
irreversible lessons as opposed to Saturn that teaches via long term hard work/ delay.
Lesson of Mars is caution and patience if the lesson of Saturn is Perseverance.
The bhaav (house) where Mars is placed shows us where the energy and actions of a person are and where their
passions are. This can also be the domain where they will be ready to fight as a warrior/ soldier and can be
highly protective of the significations of the bhaav where Mars sits in a horoscope.
In this ‘Generic effects’ series, I have covered Saturn, Rahu & Ketu earlier. Remaning malefics are Mars and
Sun (although Sun is a limited general malefic). This topic covers Mars. As always, use this liberally and not
literally. It can not be blindly applied to each horoscope.
1) Mars will give good results for Leo and Cancer ascendants (and rashis- or moon sign) as it is a Yoga Karaka
for these signs
2) Mars will give great results when placed in the signs of Leo and Cancer! (yes Cancer too even though
debilitated!) 
3) Mars when in Cancer is debilitated will give good results as long as its Shad bala is good and Moon is
strong. This is because-
a) It is 4th from Aries and 9th from Scorpio and hence in Yoga Karaka position from its own houses
b) It is in a house of a friend (albeit debilitated)
c) Unlike other planets, Mars being a young fierce warrior, doesn’t really lose its vigor every and hence doesn’t
weaken too much even when debilitated
d) However it is vital to have Mars in a Kendra position from ascendant and have Moon either in Cancer itself
or very strong in dignity (example exalted) to create a Neecha Bhanga Rajyoga for Mars when Mars is in
Cancer
4) Mars in the signs of Aries, Cancer, Scorpio or Capricron in a Kendra house (loses most of its venom and
becomes a benefic and Yoga causing planet). However the aspects on it and the strength of rasi and nakshatra
depositor is vital to note
5) If BAV score of mars is 4 or more in a horoscope, mars will give good results
6) Mars is functionally the worst planet for Gemini and Virgo ascendants and causes trouble for these
ascendants
7) For Scorpio ascendants, even though the lagna lord, it is functionally meddlesome at best as its main sign
falls in the dusthana 6th house. However in this case if it is placed in the 1st, 3rd or 6th bhaav, it will give great
overall results
8) A strong mars in the 3rd bhaav gives strength, courage and dynamism to the individual. However it can cause
‘Bhaavo karaka Naashe’ or destroying its own signification of 3rd – which would imply no younger siblings
(especially brothers) or severe issues in the lives of younger siblings
9) Mars is best placed in the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th bhaavs. In the 10th it gains directional strength and will
gives ability to work hard, ability to lead/ administrative abilities and makes the person a ‘go-getter’
10) Mars in 6th, 8th and 11th bhaavs will tend to give injuries and accidents. In the 8th bhaav, these can be
severe if other malefics join in with no benefic aspects/ associations.
11) Mars in 1st can give headaches/ migraines and temper issues. If this happens to be the sign of Cancer, the
functional results will be good as Mars is a Yoga Karaka, but Mars will nonetheless give a snappy and
emotional/ tantrum oriented nature to the person and sudden outbursts of anger as well. The individual can be
moody and suffer from anxiety and emotional dependency on a person/ object of their affection
12) Mars with Rahu makes for ‘Angarak Yoga’. On the negative side this gives sudden anger issues and a
predisposition to violence in the individual or an involvement in negative/ hidden/ shady activities. However it
can also make a person a warrior in day to day life – someone who wont quit at any level of adversity and has
great fighting spirit. Such people can make for great sportsmen and law enforcement personnel and have a never
ending energy, especially if this combination forms in the 3rd or 6th bhaav
13) Mars with Saturn also makes for a person who will face one too many adversities in life, sometimes
inflicted by their own temperamental behavior and sometimes by fate/ chance. They are hard workers in general
and can be workaholics. Saturn solidifies the properties of Mars and such people can be very disciplined
(opposite of lazy) and focused towards their goals. They also have a tendency to easily get into confrontations
with any authority figure – be it their own boss/ parents/ partners or even the government
14) Mars with Jupiter is a good Yoga in general known as Guru- Mangal yoga. It typically manifests in an
energetic person who utilizes his energy towards good deeds rather than otherwise and are typically righteous in
their actions. However Mars being ego and Jupiter being inflation or enlargement of any signification can also
sometimes bring downfall due to over confidence or egoistic issues in life, especially if the mix is in a negative
bhav or involves Rahu as well.
15) Mars with Venus makes for a very passionate person who will put energy into areas related to comforts and
luxuries of life be it wining/ dining, romance, music/ arts and even love affairs. Such people will be very
passionate about the affairs related to the bhav where this conjunction takes place
16) Mars with Moon makes for a determined person who can also be very emotional. There will be a
predisposition to blood disorders (like anaemia etc) in such individuals depending on the dignity of the planets.
Their mothers are usually a strong influence in their lives and they can at times be like bullies in their behavior
due to mars ruling their emotions. Mars with Sun calls for an egoistic personality which is also very determined
in nature (especially if forming in a fixed sign). Such people are proud, extrovert and straightforward in their
actions and can have good leadership abilities if the planets have good dignities
17) Mars with Mercury gives energy and impulse to speech and communication as well as logical thinking
abilities of a person. They can make good salesmen, orators, media/ journalists and accountants/ finance
professionals. However in a negative context, this can give nervous/ anxiety issues and an overtly aggressive/
abusive speech especially when connected to the 2nd bhaav and devoid of positive mitigations from other
planets and yogas
18) Mars in 4th bhav has no direction and is more often than not unwelcome. Unless in great dignity, such a
mars will give anxiety and restlessness in the mind of the individual along with anger issues. Typically not good
for the health and longevity of the mother as well unless mitigated by other factors
19) Mars is a Karaka for landed properties and real estate. If strong and connected to the 4th bhaav and the lord
of 4th house, it can give much real estate to the person
20) An afflicted Mars of low strength in 6th house typically points to involvement in court cases and litigation
and danger from thieves/ enemies not just legally but even for bodily harm if Rahu is involved in the mix
21) Mars in 1st, 12th, 4th, 7th and 8th makes a person Manglik – which supposedly causes problems in
marriage. This concept is over rated and the overall dignity of Mars and other aspects have to be considered
before reaching any conclusion. Keep in mind this makes for 5/12th of the world’s population or about 42% of
people. Obviously not all of them can have major marriage issues.
22) Mars matures at the age 28. At this age, Mars will show its full promise in the horoscope – good or bad and
this will be amplified if the Vimshottari MD of Mars is operating at this time
23) Mars MD of 7 yrs can be a very fruitful time if a person disciplines their energy properly towards their
goals. Many a times it ends up being a period when a person accomplishes many long term constructive projects
of their life as long as they remain focused and disciplined. A disciplined Mars is like an army soldier- trained
and ready for any negative situation which is its strength. A lazy, untrained and lethargic soldier on the other
hand will more than likely lose not just the battle but get harmed in the process
24) Hanumaan is the diety related to Mars and Tuesday is the day of Mars or ‘Mangal’ or ‘Kuja’ as its called in
Hindi/ Sanskrit
25) Many negative situations can be avoided during MD of Mars by avoiding impulsive and knee jerk
decisions. Most damage done during Mars periods invariably comes from sudden actions and decisions taken at
the spur of the moment without due diligence and logic/ rationality backing it. When controlled well, Mars
energy can take a person to dizzy heights in their fields
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Saturn Dasha – Generic Effects

Since Saturn is one of the most dreaded Dashas, I chose to compile a few generic factors to look out for. Keep
in mind this has to be used Liberally and NOT Literally. Other planets, strengths, aspects, divisionals etc have
to be kept in mind before coming to any conclusion regarding Saturn or for that matter any other planet. Still the
points below can be used as good yardsticks for a generic analysis of Saturn-
1) Saturn mahadasha or even antar to some extent operating before age 36 usually gives struggles and blockages
even when Saturn is placed well and a functional benefic (ruling good houses)
2) Saturn dasha as the 6th dasha (all born in dasha of sun) is generally very strong and can elevate a person to
great heights if Saturn is strong in horoscope
3) Saturn dasha as 4th dasha gives more trouble than normal even when Saturn is well placed
4) Saturn MD if operating after age 56 will have a very high predisposition to KILL before it ends. Only those
will very good karma in life escape it alive in general. More the person has SINNED in his/ her life, more the
physical/ mental agony in Saturn MD after 56
5) Saturn when conjunct with Mars or Rahu within 8 degrees in D1 will give bad results almost through out in
its dashas
6) Saturn in 12th house, especially in a separative sign (Aries, Leo and Saggi – fire signs) will give very bad
results and ensure a big downfall in life. Can even be a scandal, bankruptcy or defamation/ court case/ jail
7) Saturn is worst in 1, 4, 8 and 12 (except in exaltation, own signs)
8 ) Saturn gives mischievous results (both good and bad) in mercury signs of gemini and virgo
9) Best placements are 3,6 and 11 of course as upachyaas…in 10th can be tricky…can give a delay in career…if
afflicted can destroy career and image…if exalted/ own house and well aspected can lift a person to dizzy
heights even if functional malefic…example Leo rising…saturn is malefic owning 6 and 7…but if saturn is
placed in 10th house of taurus (friendly sign) with venus and jupiter, it can give tremendous rise in professional
life especially banking industry in this particular example
10) 9th placement is good if in a good sign and aspected by Jupiter or conjunct Jupiter and/ or Venus or
Mercury
11) Saturn when at exact ascendant degree will give life long chronic health issues…severe if Saturn is in
inimical camp and mild if own house/ exalted/ friendly sign
12) Even though sadhe satti is stressful to all (especially when Saturn is plus or minus 5 degrees from moon)…
see what houses Saturn owns from moon and lagna…these houses will be activated during sadhe satti….so
example for Taurus…9th and 10th will be activated…meaning job changes/ higher education and or travel
related changes…but not without Hard work and initial struggle and effort
13) When Saturn is retro and sun almost exact 180 degrees opposite of Saturn, Saturn typically gives good
results in its MD
14) However if Saturn – sun exact opposition is in the 1-7 axis, marriage is almost certainly denied or extremely
delayed (>42 yrs of age)
15) Saturn feels agitated in the signs of Aries, Cancer, Leo & Scorpio and tends to give more delay and struggle
in these signs
16) Saturn conjunct Ketu (especially same nakshatra) is highly negative for career of a person and unless
aspected by a strong Jupiter or Venus, such a combination will bring tremendous hardships in the career of an
individual. If Mars joins the mix, career will be a drag completely and the person has to toil a lot for minor
returns and has a challenging environment at work at all times.
17) If both lagna & Moon sign are in Venusian signs of Taurus or Libra, Saturn achieves a high order benefic
status and will usually give rise in its dashas, albeit after some initial setbacks/ delays and hard work
18) Saturn conjunct Sun is not very bad unless within 8 degrees (causing combustion). Typically such people
take duty seriously and have a disciplined nature. Saturn is highly negative when closely conjunct with Mars,
Rahu or Ketu in the horoscope.
19) Saturn close conjunct with Moon is not good and will tend to give depression and loneliness to the person at
most times. Such people carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, so to speak and are usually seen with
a serious expression almost always. However when both planets are strong (Moon and Saturn) and if both are
related to the 4th house along with an aspect of Jupiter, the person can be a darling of the masses and achieve
mass fame. (4th house related to the masses and popularity and Saturn is Karaka for the masses. Moon is the
Karaka for fame and image of a person)
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Saadhe- Satti
One of the most dreaded words in Vedic astrology, heard by almost everyone in India is Saadhe Satti and its
(supposedly) debilitating effects on an individual’s life. Hopefully this article can serve to explain the meaning,
implication and dispel some rumors regarding it.
What is Saadhe-Satti?
The transit of Saturn in a house before moon, then over the natal moon and consequently one sign after moon
(in total 3 houses) is a period called as Saadhe-satti. Or in other words, transit of Saturn in the 12th house, 1st
house and 2nd house as reckoned from the natal Moon is a period called Saadhe-satti.
Saadhe-satti translates from Hindi as 7 1/2 which is the number of years this transit last roughly as Saturn takes
approximately 2 1/2 years to transit in one sign. Hence to cover 3 signs it will take 3 x 2 1/2 = 7 1/2 yrs
Technically speaking, Saadhe satti starts when Saturn transits 45 degrees before Moon and continues till 45
degrees after the longitude of Moon in a person’s horoscope. However as a generalization, the degrees are
ignored and the signs are considered. As an example currently Saturn is transiting scorpio. Hence saadhe satti is
running for individuals with the following moon signs – Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius.
Also related is the transit called is ‘Dhaiya’ which occurs when Saturn transits the 4th sign or 8th sign from
moon. Dhaiya means 2 1/2 yrs and this period is also reputed to be in results similar to the saadhe-satti period.
What are the Effects of Saadhe- Satti as per common belief? (Why the fear regarding the same?)
As per rumor/ belief or partial knowledge, Saadhe satti brings about misery of all kinds in a person’s life in the
form of physical, financial, professional and mental agony. A person suffers in all areas of life and progress in
career or education becomes very hard and sometimes impossible. Obstacles occur in any area the person
touches and delays, denials and misfortunes occur regularly. As per further belief, barring some relief from
remedies, life becomes a drag/ pain and this period can cause deep frustrations and/ or depression in an
individual. For those who are very old in age, this period can even cause death.
What is the Reality of Saadhe-Satti?
This transit of Saturn is NOT always bad. Further bad or good are relative words and hence generalizing
something as bad is by itself, a fallacy.
Saturn by nature is a hard task master. The planet does not easily give results and neither does it give anything
in a hurry. It demands hard work, discipline and honesty in any activity before it awards the person with any
desired results. It does have a tendency to ‘delay’ results in general, especially if one wishes quick returns on
their effort or sometimes returns without any effort.
Having said this, this transit can sometimes be the best period of someone’s life. It can be constructive,
progressive and full of professional, personal or educational achievements for particular natives. It depends on
their basic horoscope. Strength and dignity of Saturn in the horoscope of the native along with its functional
nature. Also since this transit is defined around Moon, the placement, strength/ dignity of Moon and aspects on
Moon in the basic horoscope are vital to consider as well.
Further, most important to remember is that this is just transit, that too of just one of the 9 planets. Hence it is
not a be-all/ do-all situation and not the end of the world even if Saturn is negative in one’s horoscope.
The operating dasas and other transits also contribute their own positive/ negative results as be and the net result
is a combination of the entire horoscope, its Yogas, dasas and overall transits. Saadhe-satti, hence, is just one of
the 100’s of factors to be considered for a final reading for any given time for any given individual.
During Saadhe satti, in general a person has to work hard in life to get success. Success can be achieved all
right, but not without effort and a dedicated effort towards the chosen area of the native. For students, hard work
is needed to get good grades and to attain the diplomas. In general the more disciplined life a person leads
during Saadhe satti, the more constructive the results over the period.
Factors to be considered for Saadhe- Satti (SS) analysis-
1) SS is not negative for Moon signs of – Taurus, Libra, Capricorn and Aquarius. The latter 2 as Saturn is the
owner of the moon sign and hence a functional benefic and in case of Taurus or Libra moon signs, Saturn
becomes a Yoga Karaka or a highly benefic planet
2) SS is relatively more negative but still not too negative for the Mercury owned signs of Moon – Gemini and
Virgo. For both these signs, Saturn considers the ruler Mercury as its friend and in addition owns one good and
one not so good house and hence neutral in functionality for these signs
3) SS is worst, in general, for signs of Cancer and Leo. This is because Saturn is enmical to the rulers of these
signs and in addition rules negative houses from these signs
4) SS will be felt more intensely when the maha dasa or antar dasa of Saturn is also operating in addition to the
SS transit in the context of Vimshottari dasa
5) Functional nature of Saturn is the most important from both the Lagna and Moon sign. If Saturn is a
functional benefic from both the signs, SS can be a very constructive period.
6) Look at the signs Saturn rules from the Moon sign, these houses will be activated during this transit. Example
for Taurus moon, Saturn rules 9th and 10th house. So effects related to the 9th and 10th house will be felt
strongly during a SS period for the Taurus natives
7) Along the same lines, look at the signs Saturn rules from Lagna, these will also be activated during SS period
8) SS is much more harshsly felt when Saturn is conjunct Moon, Mars, Ketu or Rahu in the natal horoscope.
(Especially if the conjunction is less than 5 degrees)
9) SS is less malefic when Saturn conjuncts Jupiter or Venus in the natal horoscope
10) Even when SS gives constructive results, the ‘Generic’ effects of Saturn will also be felt. Saturn is a
generically a malefic planet. Hence its effects, even when functionally benefic, will not be devoid of some level
of delay/ stress and anxiety in the process. However, remember that Functional effects are always predominant
and over-rule generic effects. Hence when functionally benefic, the results of SS will be constructive long term
for the native
11) When Saturn sits in 3rd, 6th or 11th in the natal horoscope SS is usually constructive in overall effects
12) When Saturn sits in 1st, 4th, 8th or 12th houses in the natal horoscope, SS results will be more negative in
general
13) Very important is BAV (ashtakvarga) bindus of Saturn in the signs during SS. If Saturn has 4 or
more bindus (dots/ points) in any sign, the malefic effects, if any, are greatly reduced. With 3 points, the
results are average. For 0, 1 or 2 points, the results are negative
14) Likewise observe the SAV bindus for the signs where SS or dhaiya is occurring. If the sign has between 25
to 29 points, the results will be average. Below 25 will be bad (lower the worse). Above 30 will be good (the
higher the score, the better the result)
15) If the BAV score of Saturn is high (say 5) but SAV score of sign is average or low (say 24) then BAV effect
will dominate and in this example, results will be good
16) While SS, if Rahu/ Ketu also transit in conjunction with Saturn or over the natal moon, the effects are more
negative ofcourse as now more general malefics are combining at the same time
17) Likewise when Jupiter aspects Saturn during SS, the malefic/ delaying effects of Saturn are reduced
accordingly
18) Keep Vipreet Vedha in mind as well. When Saturn transits 12th from moon, SS is active. However if
any planet (except Sun) transits in the 3rd house from Moon. It puts a Vipreet Vedha (reverse block) on
Saturn. This implies the negative effects of Saturn are reduced or diverted during such a transit and
hence SS effects will be temporarily abated
19) If Saturn is causing SS and problems for a native, typically during the retrograde periods of Saturn, the
negative results will take a back seat. They don’t go away – just get into a limbo mode. Meaning the intensity of
negative events abates for some time and gives the native a breather during the roughly 5 months per every 12
months when Saturn is retrograde
20) During SS, when Saturn transits the 3rd, 5th or 7th Nakshatra from Moon, the negative effects are amplified
21) When Saturn transits in the 2nd, 6th or 8th Nakshatras from Moon, the negative effects are reduced
22) During SS, when Mars conjuncts or aspects Saturn in transit, stress, anger and frustration sort of results are
obtained
23) Effects of SS are most intense when Saturn is transiting within 6 degrees before and after the natal
Moon degree. Also important is the natal Moon’s brightness and strength in the horoscope. A Moon that
is bright and strong in the natal horoscope will be affected much less than a dark and weak moon. In the
latter case, there will be a tendency to depression during such Saturn transits
Finally, suffice to say, that despite its highly feared reputation, SS is NOT always bad. It can be a constructive
period as well depending on an individual horoscope. However, keep in mind that the main lesson of Saturn is
discipline and perseverance. During SS, one must learn to inculcate these qualities, else Saturn will teach those
lesson anyways and it will feel harsh to the native.
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