Last Updated on February 29, 2024 by astrologerbydefault

There was a question on the luckiest ascendant, so a quick post. This logic is based on the ‘functional malefic’ concept.

• A planet who owns the 6^th, 8^th or 12^th house counted from the ascendant sign, in a chart will act as a functional malefic for the horoscope. Especially so if its Mooltrikon sign falls in any of these turbulent houses.
• Rahu and Ketu are functional malefics for all ascendant signs.
• The lord of the 3^rd house, if badly placed, will act as a functional malefic, so check out the individual horoscope for this factor. The 3^rd house is a very typical house, can go either way.
• The ascendant lord cannot overtly be a malefic for a chart, this is applicable for Aries, Libra and Aquarius ascendants. But if you get a chart with these ascendants, do evaluate the power of the ascendant lord to get a clear idea of what results he is going to confer. eg I have noticed that for Aries and Libra, the rate of change is very high, the personality goes through periodic cycles where there is severe disturbance, followed by a mini-melt-down, followed by an astonishing rebound and growth. For Aquarius ascendants, there is an undefinable loss of personality in the sense that they are always defined by their background groups. Alone, without his social support, an Aquarius ascendant seems a shadow of his self.

So this is the list of functional malefics for each ascendant sign,

• Aries- Mercury, Rahu, Ketu
• Taurus- Mars, Jupiter, Rahu, Ketu
• Gemini- Rahu and Ketu
• Cancer– Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu (possibly Mercury as per individual chart)
• Leo– Moon, Rahu, Ketu
• Virgo- Sun, Mars, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu
• Libra- Mercury, Rahu, Ketu (possibly Jupiter as per individual chart)
• Scorpio– Venus, Rahu, Ketu
• Sagittarius- Moon, Rahu, Ketu
• Capricorn- Mercury, Sun, Jupiter, Rahu, Ketu
• Aquarius- Moon, Mercury, Rahu, Ketu
• Pisces- Sun, Saturn, Venus, Rahu, Ketu

Here we have followed the concept that the mool-trikon sign of the planet should fall in the 6^th, 8^th and 12^th houses for it to be classified as a full blown functional malefic. But do remember that even if a planet’s regular sign falls in these 6^th, 8^th and 12^th houses of turmoil, he can be an agent of pain in your life. (For Moon we do not consider his Mooltrikon sign Taurus, but his own sign Cancer)

• I have added one possible malefic for Cancer ascendant, ie Mercury. And Jupiter as a potential malefic for Libra ascendant. Their mool-trikon sign falls in the 3^rd house for these ascendants. The 3^rd house is a rather typical house, can go either way so always check it from the individual chart.

If you look at this above list critically, Virgo and Pisces ascendants have a whopping five planets as clear-cut functional malefics. People born under these ascendant signs have more happening and traumatic events in their life. The influence of the three houses of turmoil is more in their lives and more unfavourable incidents associated with the keywords of these houses occur. Broadly diseases, debts, enemies, losses, stress, catastrophic transformation etc can occur with more frequency. (Cancer will fall in this list, if in the individual chart, Mercury is unable to give auspicious results. eg If Mercury is aspected/ conjoint Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu)

Now whenever the Sun is a functional malefic, you should analyse his proximity to Mercury too. Mercury is more often combust than other planets. So if in the chart, a malefic Sun consumes a beneficial/ neutral Mercury, Mercury is unable to give his results and you have one less positive/neutral planet in your chart. Second possibility is Venus being combust by a malefic Sun, as he too remains rather close to the Sun. This scenario is possible for Virgo, Capricorn and Pisces ascendants, so check this in the individual chart.

Second possibility is if the Sun combusts a functional malefic planet then he too becomes a malefic! The Sun can combust all the 5 tara-graha, but this possibility is more for Mercury and Venus as they are the inner planets, closer to the Sun.

• Aries, Cancer, Libra and Aquarius have Mercury as a functional malefic so if such a malefic Mercury is swallowed up by the Sun in combustion, the Sun will take on all of Mercury’s attributes including his this functional malefic nature.
• Then Scorpio and Pisces have Venus as a functional malefic so if the Sun combusts a malefic Venus, he too will become a composite Sun+Venus malefic power.

In the horoscope, check if the ascendant lord is influenced by these functional malefics. This reduces his power to adjust your personality and your environment with each other. Also check if the birth Moon is under malefic influence, as this directly affects the mind, emotions and mental processes.

• eg for Cancer ascendant, Moon (ascendant lord) conjoint Jupiter is not a very auspicious combination. Even if Jupiter is considered to be beneficial, he is a functional malefic for this ascendant.

Taurus, Capricorn and Aquarius ascendants, have four planets as functional malefics. (Libra can come in this category if in the specific chart, Jupiter is under the influence of even more malefics and is incapable of giving auspicious results.) And Aries, Leo, Scorpio and Sagittarius ascendants, have three functional malefic planets. Finally Gemini ascendant has only two, ie the common Rahu/ Ketu as the functional malefic energies in the chart.

So I would say that Gemini ascendant is the luckiest ascendant to have, as it practically has no functional malefics. Except Rahu and Ketu who are astral planets entrusted with the express job of creating turbulence in our life. The remaining 7 planets are either neutral or beneficial so this ascendant has a relatively smoother life compared to the remaining eleven signs of the zodiac.

The toughest would be Cancer, Virgo or Pisces ascendants.

• Virgo and Pisces because of the five planets who work directly as functional malefics.
• Cancer because he has four (five, if Mercury also afflicted), but these include Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu, the slowest planets. If something goes wrong in a Cancer’s life, it can take ages to first suffer through the problem and then ages to recover from it.

Now a bit more on how to use this concept.

• If the functional malefic in the birth chart is on the exact central degree at the house he is placed in, he exerts more negative influence on the matters of this house. eg if your birth rising degree is 3deg Leo, the middle of the 1^st house is at 3deg Leo. Look out for the planets transiting around 3deg in any sign and their effects on you.
• If the functional malefic is closely conjunct or aspects any other birth planet, he will affect their power to give auspicious results.
• In transit too, these planets give their worst results when they are passing through the center of a house or conjunct/ aspecting any birth planet.

Finally one more aspect of this list must be considered. Check which ascendant has slow moving or fast moving planets as its functional malefics.

Leo and Sagittarius have only Moon as their functional malefic. Moon is the fastest planet going at 2.25days/sign. So the trials in their life will pop in suddenly, maybe an acute attack of some problem in life and then as suddenly pop out. There can be more frequent problems as the Moon transits around the zodiac in about 28days. But perhaps this is better as you do not have to endure under a problem for years.

• eg If you know that the next 2.25days are going to be typical, you can do something about it, eg re-arrange your work schedule etc or just sit through knowing that it will end in 2.25days.

Aries, Libra, Scorpio, Aquarius have the Sun, Moon, Mercury or Venus as their functional malefic. These ‘inner planets’ are also fast moving, approx a month in a sign. So the problems faced by these people do not last for long, though may have a yearly sort of periodicity. Here a problem can last for about a month (might resurface maybe a year later if the dasha/other transits permit.) However note the combustions of these planets in your birth chart and in transit which can modify results.

• eg If a Cancer ascendant at birth has Mercury conjoint Sun and both aspected by Saturn. Then those periods when Mercury goes combust in the skies (three times a year) wil, inflate his ego, affect his thought processes, make him temporarily selfish, unable to accepts others views, create even more misunderstandings because of this, might cause severe fights with siblings or teammates or neighbours, or extended family members, losses in trade etc be especially problematic for him.

For Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Capricorn and Pisces ascendant people, the outer planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn figure in the list. These take longer times to transit signs, Mars can take 2-6 months, Jupiter 1 yr and Saturn 2.6yrs, per sign. So for these people, troubles in life will last for a longer period, they will have to endure under problematic situations for months/ years. And recovery from these episodes will be slow. However periodicity will be lesser. Mars completes one round of the zodiac in 2yrs, Jupiter in 12yrs and Saturn in 30yrs.

• I have mentioned in my previous posts, that Cancer ascendants should take special care and try to focus on their spiritual growth than material objects during the next few years. Now you see, Jupiter, Ketu, Saturn, are/ will be transiting their 6th, 7th, 8th houses back to back. Two houses of turmoil, 6th and 8th and 7th is a very cryptic house, decisions taken here convert to karma very quickly.

You must have read about functional malefics in your studies on astrology, so this is how you gain more information using this concept. Astrology is about seeing patterns and linking them together with common sense and a bit of intuition. You must study your sample horoscopes of your family/ friends and see how your ideas and concepts really play out in life. This is how you learn with every chart you read.