Vedic Astrology - Lesson I

1.  Example Horoscope

Planets placement in a bhava (house) gives rise to a unique combination of interplay and exchange of energies between the planet and the house. The influences of the house and the planet mix and blend, forming new energies that will dominate over the areas of life represented by that particular planet and the house as well as the house/s that the planet rules. The planets will affect the areas of the represented by the houses that they are placed in, which in turn, the houses will affect the areas of life signified by the planets that are placed in these houses. The planets and the signs, and the signs and the houses exchange their mutual influences in a similar manner. These interaction lead to a myriad of vital information, which can be used to derive a meaningful interpretation of one’s horoscope.

To help your make sense out of all these possible meanings, let’s start with the most important point in the horoscope, the Ascendant. The Ascendant is the sign that occupies the first house. Since the first house represents your personality and life in general, the sign in this house is of great importance and it has an enormous influence over how a person is shaped as an individual. Your Ascendant sign is fairly accurately describe your general personality.

Another very important sign is the sign occupied by the Moon. The Moon in your chart is placed in the sign of Pisces (indicated by number 12 in the chart). The degree of the Moon is 0.8:26. Therefore your general personality traits and characteristics can be described by signs of Virgo and Pisces. Virgo ascendant indicates quality of intelligence, active, reading and writing whereas, the Moon’s placement in Pisces shoes idealism, gentleness, sensitivity, dreaminess and flexibility.

As explained, each house is fully occupied by a sign. The planet that owns that sign becomes strongly associated with the house in question, and is referred to as the “lord” or “ruler” of that house. For this chart, the lordships are as follows:

1.1 Lordship of Houses

Houses: 1^st

Lordship: Mercury 
Placed in House: 9

Houses: 2^nd

Lordship: Venus

Placed in House: 11

Houses: 3^rd

Lordship: Mars

Placed in House: 8

Houses: 4^th

Lordship: Jupiter

Placed in House: 7

Houses: 5^th

Lordship: Saturn

Placed in House: 10

Houses: 6^th

Lordship: Saturn

Placed in House: 10

Houses: 7^th

Lordship: Jupiter 

Placed in House: 7

Houses: 8^th

Lordship: Mars

Placed in House: 8

Houses: 9^th

Lordship: Venus

Placed in House: 11

Houses: 10^th

Lordship: Mercury

Placed in House: 9

Houses: 11^th

Lordship: Mon

Placed in House: 7

Houses: 12^th

Lordship: Sun

Placed in House: 10

“Bhava (house) lords are representatives and significations of the bhava (houses). They rule in a particular house. The Sun and the Moon rule one house each, while Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn rule two houses each. Only Rahu and Ketu do not have unique house ruler ships.  

The lord of the First House represents everything the first house represents (the self, personality, body, life in general inclinations, etc.) so its placement in the birth chart is of the utmost importance.

2.  Planetary Details

In order to make an accurate evaluation of the chart one needs to know more details about Planets (planets) placements than could be listed within the chart. The following table with Planetary Info provides the details that are usually in demand.

2 .1 Birth Chart Details

Planet: Asc

R: Degree: 05:02:56

Rashi: Vir

Nakshatra: U. Phal.

Nakshatra Lord: 3/ Su/ Sa

Dignity:

Nama: Pa 

Avast.5:

Planet: Sun

R: Degree: 15:07:27

Rashi: Gem

Nakshatra: Ardra

Nakshatra Lord: 3/Ra/ Ke

Dignity: Frnd

Nama: Ang

Avast.5: Youth

Planet: Mon

R: Degree: 08:26:47

Rashi: Pis

Nakshatra: U. Bhad

Nakshatra Lord: 2/ Sa/Ve

Dignity: Enemy

Nama: Tha

Avast.5: Old

Planet: Mars

R: Degree: 06:25:30

Rashi: Ari

Nakshatra: Ashw

Nakshatra Lord: 2/K/Ve

Dignity: Moolt

Nama: Che 

Avast.5: Adoles

Planet: Mercury

R: Degree: 24:18

Rashi: Taurus

Nakshatra: Mriga

Nakshatra Lord: 1/Ma/Ra

Dignity: Grt. Fr.

Nama: Ve

Avast.5: Infant

Planet: Jupiter

R: Degree: 28:05:29

Rashi: Pisces

Nakshatra: Revati

Nakshatra Lord: 4/Me/Sa

Dignity: Own

Nama: Chi

Avast.5: Infant

Planet: Venus

R: Degree: 29:51:41

Rashi: Cancer

Nakshatra: Ashlesha

Nakshatra Lord: 4/Me/Sa

Dignity: Grt. En

Nama: Do

Avast.5: Infant

Planet: Saturn

R: C

Degree: 27:06:23

Rashi: Gemini

Nakshatra: Punarvas

Nakshatra Lord: 3/Ju/Ve

Dignity: Grt. Fr.

Nama: Ha

Avast.5: Dead

Planet: Rahu

R: Degree: 06:40:49

Rashi: Scorpio

Nakshatra: Anuradha

Nakshatra Lord: 2/Sa/Me

Dignity: Debil

Nama: Ni

Avast.5: Old

Planet: Ketu

R: Degree: 06:40:49

Rashi: Taurus

Nakshatra: Krittika

Nakshatra Lord: 4/Su/Me

Dignity: Debil

Nama: Ae

Avast.5: Old

The First column lists the Ascendant and the 9 planets. The second column, labeled “R” indicates whether the planet is retrograde or combust. Retrograde status is assigned to a planet (Planet), when it appears to move backward through the sky. The Sun and the Moon never change their direction, while Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn periodically change their proper motion through the Zodiac and appear to move backwards (this is apparent motion because of relative motion of earth, sun and the planet concerned) and afterwards resume their direct motion. At the same time the natural course of motion for Rahu and Ketu is backwards. A retrograde planet is said to give slightly unexpected results or manifest them in a way or order that is opposite to what is considered normal. Retrograde motion is said to render extra strength to the planet. Therefore, the natural significations of a retrograde planet will manifest more intensely in one’s life. If your see “R” next to a Planet in the table above, it indicates that the planet (Planet) was retrograde at the moment of native’s birth.

When a Planet (planet) conjoins the Sun in the sky it becomes lost in the Sun’s rays and invisible. Therefore the Planet (planet) in the horoscope that are placed too close to the Sun within a certain number of degrees are referred to as combust. This condition does not apply to the Lunar Nodes. When the Moon is located within a close proximity to the Sun it is referred to as new.

Combust planets are considered to be astrologically weak and not able to protect their external significations as well as the external significations of the houses that they own. On the positive side, the internal significations of those planets become enlivened by the Sun’s influence. When you see C mark in the R column next to a Planet in planetary info table, it means that the Planet was combust at the time of birth.

The third column gives the exact degree of each Planet (planet), listing the degree, minutes and seconds.

The Ascendant sign degree is 05:02 of Virgo.

The column labeled “Rashi” (sign) in which the planet is located. This can also be seen in the chart itself by the number indicated in the house of the Planet.

The “Nakshatra” column shows what Nakshatra the Planet is placed in. There are 27 nakshatras and together they divide the zodiac in 27 equal portion of 23 degree and 20 minutes each. Another name for Nakshtara is Lunar Mansion. Each Nakshatra has a unique character and it will influence any Planet placed in it to understand how the significations of a planet will manifest in one’s life, it is important to know the nature of the nakshatra that it occupies.

Vedic Astrology pays a lot of attention to the nakshatra in which the Moon is placed. The description of the qualities of that Nakshatra will provide a small sketch about one’s nature.

The “Nakhatra Lord” column shows 3 more details in regards to the mentioned nakshatra.  Nakshatra are divided in 4 quarters, each called a pada. The Planet that occupies the nakshatra, will be found in one of these 4  padas. This pada number is the first item shown under Nakshatra Lord. The remaining 2 are the Lord and sublord of the Nakshatra: the Planets that rule the nakshatra, and the particular degree in the nakshatra respectively.

The “Dignity” column shows the dignity of the Planet which is derived from the sign placement in the chart. Planets can have dignity anywhere in the range from Exaltation (the best) to Debilitation (the worst). Let’s look at Venus; according to the above table, it is in Grt. Enemy diginity. This is only a partial indication of how auspicious or afflicted a planet is, so don’t worry if one of your planets is not well placed in this respect. In a later part of the lesson we will discuss the concept of dignities in details.

The “Nama” column shows the sound connected to the Nakshstra Pada of the Planet. In Vedic Tradition, newborn children are named accordingly to the sound corresponding to the Moon’s nakshatra. The last column “Avast.5” indicates the Avastha (“state”) of the planet. There are various kind of Avasthas but this one is considered as one of the most relevant ones.

Naturally the planet relate to each other in a certain manner according to their inherent qualities. The conditions of the Planet’s essential nature of relationships are listed in this table. It is called Natural relationship.

3.  Planetary Friendship

3.1  Natural Relationship (Naisargika)

Planet: Sun

Friends: Moon , Mars, Jupiter

Enemies: Venus, Saturn, Rahu Ketu

Neutral: Mercury 


Planet: Moon

Friends:  Sun, Mercury

Enemies: Rahu, Ketu

Neutral: Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn

Planet: Mars

Friends: Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Ketu

Enemies: Mercury, Rahu

Neutral: Venus, Saturn

Planet: Mercury

Friends: Sun, Venus, Rahu

Enemies: Moon

Neutral: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu

Planet: Jupiter

Friends: Sun, Moon, Mars

Enemies: Mercury, Venus

Neutral: Saturn, Rahu, Ketu

Planet: Venus

Friends: Mercury, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu

Enemies: Sun, Moon

Neutral: Mars, Jupiter

Planet: Saturn

Friends: Mercury, Venus, Rahu

Enemies: Sun, Moon, Mars, Ketu

Neutral: Jupiter

Planet: Rahu

Friends: Mercury, Venus, Satrun

Enemies: Sun, Moon, Mars

Neutral: Jupiter, Ketu

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