ascendant

The Dark and bright halves – Part 1

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Astrology is not just about which planet falls in which sign and aspects what. It is seeing patterns. There are just the 12 houses, 9 planets and they tell you about your entire life. Every nuance is important here. Analysing the distribution of the planets in the horoscope can be used to determine if your current life is for ‘enjoying’ the ‘fruits’ of your past lives karma (bhog yoni) or are you more into action using the potential of your past lives (karma-yoni)? Open your horoscope, (Vedic astrology app). Locate your exact rising degree. Add (or subtract) 180 deg from this to get the exact setting degree. The 10th house is the zenith, the highest degree above your head as you were born. The 4th house is the nadir, the degree exactly below your feet.

The 1st and the 7th houses are a bit special as the center of the house lies on the horizon. Half above, the ‘bright half’ the conscious and half below, ‘dark half’ the subconscious. These two houses are different, planets placed here also behave differently. But for the purposes of this post, let’s divide them also into two halves, one in each half of the zodiac, dark and bright. (But do try to think for yourself the significance of the 1/7 axis and their half bright/dark natures.)

The houses 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th and half of the 1st and 7th are in the dark half. You have limited conscious control on these things. Here you are dished out karma, depending on your past lives actions. If you have more planets below the horizon ie 5 or more planets, then you are in a Bhog-yoni. You are more into enjoying the fruits of your past karma. These fruits may be auspicious or not depending on the actual placement and power of the horoscope. The planets are the karma active for you in this life. Eg planets here can give a luxurious life but only for this one, their influence will not go onward to the further lives. The houses/ signs/ planets here are active for only one life, the present one. You are required to bear with this karma, sweet or rotten, in this life. You do not have significant opportunities to create new directions for your future lives now. Involution.

The houses 8th 9th 10th 11th and the halves of the 1st and 7th above the horizon (bright half). If you have more planets above the horizon ie 5 or more planets, then you are the action hero, it is a karma-yoni. Here you can change the direction of your current and future lives by your conscious actions. If the planets here are capable of giving auspicious results, you have more options, if they are unfavourable you have less options. But you will have the option of active choice. The possibility of creating new karma exists as you use the potential of these planets to act. And what can create can also destroy, so if you use these planet’s energies, you can also destroy the seeds of karma and also prevent new karma from being created. You will be put in situations where you will choose your path. These choices will be very significant, momentous even, as the path you choose will affect your current as well as future lives, far-reaching karmic consequences. Evolution! Choose well.

Note in which half, the Ascendant lord, the Sun and the Moon lie in. These 3 planets are the most important ones for your chart. They work differently in the dark and the bright half.

There is nothing good/bad, correct/wrong or auspicious/unfavourable here. Both bhog-yoni and karma-yoni are important for the soul’s evolution. One represents the power of current choice and the other is the choice of birth. You might think of them as ‘will’ and ‘instinct’. These represent the way your current life is oriented. If you know this you can be better adjusted and satisfied with your current life, Jyotish is self-illumination.

The Dark and bright halves - Part 1

The 1st house is half dark and half bright, its exact center on the horizon. Your essence, personality/immediate environment. Some of these things are in your control but some are in-built. Eg your vitality or your body structure is in-built but you can consciously increase it by doing spiritual practice or going to the gym. Or you can reduce it by living an unhealthy lifestyle. Your choice. This house represents your potential energy and your conscious action both. How you convert the entire potential of the dark half into the action of the bright half is majorly controlled by the 1st house.

If you have a planet in your 1st house, he will have a very significant effect on your entire self. The sub-conscious karma can be converted into a powerful spurt of conscious action if this planet is very strong. Now is this planet is in the bright half, you will have a choice on where you direct the energy, the conscious will is strong. But if he is in the dark half of the 1st house this choice was made by you at the time of birth, the instinct will dominate.

(I know a chart with a Yogkarak Mars debilitated in the dark half of Cancer ascendant. It is very instructive to observe him, his birth chart, the effects of transits on him and the conflict between his sub-conscious instinct and conscious will. If you have any Cancer or Leo ascendants in your study, observe them the next 5yrs are going to be very happening. More so for Cancer.)

The ‘bhog’ fruits of karma represented by the subconscious half have to be gone through. This fruit baggage at your back determines the power of your essence, your personality. As you finish these fruits, you are given options to create new. This is the morning dawn, things are being brought out into the open, into the active conscious. Remember the direction of movement of the zodiac? 1st house is your essence, try to use this essence so as to get the maximum benefit from what you expend.

The 2nd is family, the family’s accumulated wealth, its history, voice, vision etc. You cannot change these things much just accept them and try to live with them. Any planet here will give its effect and you cannot do much to alter it. Eg one chart is born in a very rich family, but Ketu in the 2nd cleanly separated him from his family’s assets, he sees the astral dimension clearly and also stammers.

The 3rd is courage, boldness to choose between options, neighbourhood, extended family, small trade, team-workers, siblings, even gossip and rumours. Planets here will influence these things but again you consciously do not have much control over these things. You simply have them. eg Moon here may give a lot of boldness in the astral realms and the strength of the mind and Jupiter here can add his dose of hope to it but where will you use this boldness? The 3rd house just gives you this modified boldness. This is your ‘possession’, you possess these things, the planets can only modify the qualities cannot direct them. The goals must come from somewhere else (1st or 9th house?).

Now the 4th house, one of the pillars of the chart. The act of arriving on this earth, the mother, houses, safety, comforts, early education, heart, innate intelligence, the bindings of your current incarnation on your individual soul. Any planet here contributes immensely to your emotional, spiritual, physical make-up. You cannot alter or modify these influences much, slightly tweak them at max. Can you change your birth mother? Eg if you have a Sun+Mercury here it will make you very analytical, intelligent, matter-of-fact, limited external display of emotions. But what you analyse and use your intelligence for, is not decided by this house.

the dark and bright halves part 1

The 5th is personal genius, creativity, children, intelligence, confidence, etc. These are inborn traits, you cannot teach someone creativity. You possess these things, but using them? Eg Love affairs of the 5th can happen as a matter of routine, but converting them to marriage requires the 9th house’s destiny, 7th house’s choice powered by the 1st house’s essence. The 5th house strangely, is also all those situations where you have limited scope of choice! A simplistic eg, you use your 5th house, create a child, now you do not have the option of ignoring it. You have to carry on with what you create here. A very strong planet here, eg a single Rahu will give immense personal creativity, make you very famous in society, occult abilities and love affairs too, but will leave no scope for one-one equal partnerships ie marriage/ business, spiritual practice is also affected. Ketu here will give flashes of creativity, incisive intelligence which might be diverted in several love affairs or extreme asceticism. Again you do not have wilful control over the planets here and the tendencies they indicate, it is more on instinct.

When reading the horoscope, the 1-5-9 axis should be analysed in depth. This is the Dharma trikon, the Foundations. It shows how innate genius and divine luck feeds into your personal essence.

The 6th house is your karmic impediments, the requirement to serve or suffer. Is your life journey easy or difficult? If the scope for mental, physical, emotional suffering is restrained it is a good thing, so malefics work better here. Disease, debts, enemies, conflicts all ‘loss of balance’ are the domain of the 6th house. These are karmic stumbling blocks from your own deepest psyche. They are active in this life and in the dark half. You suffer or serve but at least pending karma is rebalanced. You cannot wish this away/avoid it now, it is the fruit of your past life’s actions. Facing up to them courageously is perhaps the only option.

Now we come to the 7th house. I find this house the most dangerous. This house is just like the 1st house, half dark and bright. This house is called the mirror of the 1st house and is the second most important house of your chart. But here we have conditions exactly opposite to the 1st house. The 1st is the time of birth, the 7th gives you the time of death. Here it is the metaphorical dusk, evening twilight, things are being obscured. The movement is towards the dark half. You choose, you act and immediately the energy is obscured, it enters the sub-conscious. Have you balanced pending karma or created a new mess, this is not clear to you now.

The karmic choices you make here will have their consequences in some future life’s bhog-yoni, they will become the fruit which you will enjoy/endure then. This is the hidden danger of the 7th house. You create karma under the influence of desire (kaam trikon), this karma then destabilises your essence, ie the 1st house/foundation (dharm trikon). Then you endure its ‘fruits’. Then when you finish the ‘fruits’, you get the scope for new choices in some future karma-yoni. It can get very convoluted if you are not alert. (Plus its Bhavat bhavam effect on the 1st house)

The 7th house is half in the bright side. So you have the option of choice. But half is in the dark so you are not in the least consciously aware of what that choice has done to you. (Direction of the zodiac’s movement). Has it drained your essence or has it given more power to your 1st house? And once a choice is made here it cannot be revisited. You make the conscious choice in the bright half and immediately the subconscious registers it in the dark half. Here instant karma is dished out in the same life and a portion kept for the next lives.

The point is that you can make conscious choices about the stuff related to the 7th house. You can choose which blanks you want to fill. The choice of one-one partnerships, business partners, marriage or spiritual practice is critical. The rising and setting degrees of the chart are very sensitive points of the chart and any decision you make here can have very deep repercussions. Eg if you select a wrong business partner he might cheat you. If you marry the wrong person he will drain you and you might regret it. If you choose the wrong spiritual practice it will harm. This is the house of the evening twilight, the malevolent forces are more active here. If you have a planet placed in the 7th examine his effect on your life-choices in depth.

And also be alert when other planets transit this sensitive house. That is why the current Saturn transit over Capricorn is so interesting for the astrology student. If you have any Cancer ascendant sample in your database, do follow his life-events for the next 5yrs. Or even Leo ascendants.

(I had touched on this topic briefly in my earlier post but someone wanted to know more so a full post. Have continued with the other ‘bright’ half in my this post.)

The Dark and bright halves - Part 1

(‘To choose consciously’ or to ‘follow your sub-conscious’ is often a debate.

  • For the karma-yoni people, individual conscious choice may predominate as per your own chart’s positions.
  • I go with the sub-conscious as per my own chart combinations I am enjoying the fruits of my past karma. If I feel something very strongly, it is correct.

Shortcuts for analysing a chart and Happiness

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I have had my share of strange questions from clients but yesterday on this blog I got this one ‘(planetary configurations), and will I be happy in my old age?’. This was a first. ‘Happiness’ is very subjective definition. Eg I go and buy a car for Rs 20 lakh and seeing the car in my garage makes me happy. But then the next week I see an advert saying that this car’s price has gone down and now its available for Rs 18lakh. Immediately I regret buying the car and am unhappy because I bought it!

So what is happiness?

Your horoscope can grant you material stuff, a house, vehicles, a good job, one-one relations and the rest of it. If your kendra houses are powerful your pillars of life are assured. 1st house will give a confident personality well adjusted in the environment which suits it best. The 4th house will give nurture, home, security and comforts. The 7th house will give you successes in one-one relationships. These partnerships may be with other humans or with your inner soul. A strong 10th house will ensure that the you are able to use the resources of your chart to perform the work you are karmically supposed to. In addition if the kona houses, the angles, the 5th and 9th are capable of giving good results you will feel fulfilment. The 5th house represents personal genius and creativity. The 9th house represents the auspicious benefits which you have activated from your past life karma and in this life these are your luck, your divine blessings and the one-off event in your life which propel you onwards on higher trajectories. The three dusham-sthan, the 6th 8th and 12th houses are responsible for all the turmoil that you go through in life. If you are protected by benefics from their onslaught your life will be less turbulent.

Your ascendant lord is of especial importance. He is the basis of your life. His position and power can single-handedly improve the quality of the horoscope. He is especially beneficial in the kendra and kona houses. The 5 tara graha, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are responsible for these things as they are linked to each one of the five lower chakras and everything that these chakras signify. All material stuff is from here. If these planets are powerful enough you will get all material things in life. Now the luminaries, the Sun and the Moon are the subjective forces operating at the deepest levels of the consciousness. Sun at the Sahasrara chakra and the Moon at the Ajnya chakra. These two do not ‘give’ anything material thing as such, but power the experience. So to analyse them also consider the houses/signs/planets they are influencing. The only job of these luminaries is to take you onward towards the non-material inner reality. All spiritual stuff from here. And finally the two chhya graha, the astral planets, Rahu/Ketu. These are Life. These push our perfect energy out of balance and the entire effort of getting them back in balance is called ‘Life’. They are responsible for the illusion called life. As per the story/allegory of Samudra manthan, they were one but separated into two, the head and the body of one being. They create motion, they disturb the tri-gun, they are responsible for manifestation. They create. They too operate through the houses/signs/planets they are linked with. They are the direction of your desire to experience. All karmic stuff from here.

If these things in your horoscope are powerful or capable of giving auspicious results then you will not want any essential thing related to life and living. The timings, when will you get these things is dependant on the transits and Dasha periods of the planets. If you have more planets exalted or in their own houses or having good ashtakvarga scores or shad-bala/power, good navamsha placements etc your soul has evolved significantly. You are internally more mature, more able to bear the strain of completing your karmic balance. And often your trials are of the emotional/ spiritual nature than the mere physical.

Shortcuts for analysing a chart and Happiness

No one enjoys a life with continuous happiness on the material front. The events of life are a series of struggles, achievements and failures. Life experiences highs and lows and ultimately averages out to a straight line. Over the lives you have lived, you have gained tools, skills which are manifest in this current life. You use these tools to complete your quota of karma. Karma is mysterious. (Suppose you have two choices; the first is to marry, but this marriage will be marked with a short-lived spouse, no progeny and emotional/physical stress with delay in the spiritual progress or become a sanyasi stick to the spiritual and reject the material. Which one of these would make you happier?).

A chart always shows its typical nature, the energy going outwards, pravrutti towards the material or going inwards nivrutti-spiritual. Can you fathom these energies playing around you? For this the relationship between Sun, Moon and the ascendant lord are examined. (Thus for Leo and Cancer ascendants it is sometimes a short cut to the spiritual, if they choose to take it.)

There are 9 graha. If most of the planets in your birth chart are concentrated below the horizon, (ie center of the 1st house to the center of the 7th is the sunrise-sunset axis. The 4th house is the nadir/midnight. The 10th is the zenith/midday) you are more into rebalancing past karma. Things are not much in your hands as you are buffeted by the winds of your own past karma (good or unfavourable effects both), you are reaping what you had sown. Here you are more focused on the karma you have generated already, you cannot change them much but have to accept them. Eg you cannot change your mother or your family. You are holding the fruits of your past lives in your hands.

If majority of your birth chart’s planets are above the horizon then you have the option of taking decisions on the situations which are being presented to you. You have the luxury of choice, and choose well as this will give your current and future lives a totally different direction. This is an opportunity use it well. This is the life where you have the possibility of generating new karma. Eg the 7th house, you have the choice of directing your energy, this is the time of the sunset, dusk, the setting sun, here energies are concentrated in very strange manners, do choose your one-one relationships very carefully so as to make the most of these 7th house energies do not waste them however strong the provocation. (Even if your birth planets are placed equally, they still will be 5 planets in one half and 4 in the other, so one of these two above conditions will be seen)

So where is the happiness? In the material or the spiritual or the karmic? Find it out for yourself.

Real happiness? That is another story. My Sat-Guru would often discuss happiness. It is the state of ‘unsupported’ happiness – Anand, we all desire this in our deepest hearts. The constant state of ‘Anand’ also called Param-anand, cannot be linked to something else, material, spiritual or karmic. If it is so linked then it is not the Param-anand. When the linked thing changes or our perception about this linked thing changes the happiness will get destroyed, like the car example above. So for the infinite happiness you need to find that internal connect to your deepest self, the starting point is a regular spiritual practice.

 

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Gandant the gap of the zodiac

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Nakshatras/Lunar mansions are the basis of Vedic Jyotish, but we too have become too lazy and use the approximate system of rashi/signs, but if you want to really perfect your predictions, you have to know your Nakshatra. Start with the very basics then build up.

The 27 Nakshatra are owned by the 9 planets in a sequence starting with Ketu and ending with Mercury. So there are 3 sets of such 9 nakshatra as per their planetary owners. At every junction of this set, ‘Gandant’ operates. This is a very basic post to pique your interest.

  • So in the first 3 degrees and 20 seconds of every Ketu owned Nakshatra i.e. Ashwini Magha and Moola
  • and the last 3 degrees and 20 seconds of every Mercury owned Nakshatra i.e. Ashlesha, Jeyshtha and Revati, exists this gap called Gandant.

This arc 3 min 20 sec can be approximated as 1/4th of the Nakshatra or one Pada of the Nakshatra if seen very broadly. The Gandant operates at the boundary of watery and fiery signs. i.e Pisces – Aries, Cancer – Leo and Scorpio – Sagittarius. If the birth moon or even the ascendant degree falls within this Gandant zone, there are a few typically peculiar situations in life. Let’s analyse the how and why.

Moon represents the mother, the mothering, nutrition, nurture, emotions, rest, sleep, sub-conscious, mind, astral self, emotions, comfort, security, protection, liquids, house, vehicles, the traditions, heritage, culture, cold, watery etc.

Ketu is dissociation, apathy, disinterest, separation, amputation, unwanted, not-needed etc. But he is the moksh-karak, inclines to the spiritual and is fiery in nature.

Mercury is the analytical working intelligence, skills, superficialities, quickness, duality, impressionable nature etc. He is an enemy of the Moon.

Ascendant i.e. the rising sign represents your personality, the physical body and the overall environment and status in the society.

Gandant the gap of the zodiac

The Ketu owed Nakshatra Gandant operates in the start of the fiery signs Aries, Leo and Sagittarius.

If the birth moon is in the Ketu owned Nakshatra Gandant, this child has been born in the first phases of the Ketu mahadasha, most likely the first sub-period owned by Ketu himself. This is a very uncomfortable position to be in, double dose of ‘Ketu the headless’ and he has been born into it. The closer to the start of the nakshatra, the more severe the effect. Ketu is fiery by nature creates a strange dissociated environment for the comfort-seeking moon. Then these fiery signs make the Moon rather uncomfortable.

  • Having the Ketu dasha operating at birth can lead to disconnection in several ways, maybe isolated in a natal care ward, or abandoned at birth, or put in an orphanage, or facing parental neglect or even death if it is severe.
  • Then follows the entire Ketu Mahadasha of 7 years. The early childhood is marked by neglect and abandonment issues which have the potential to scar the physical body’s growth. Nutrition and care can be denied.
  • This is Moon Gandant so the emotional expectation of the child is neglect and he himself is emotionally apathetic to overtures from his parents and family too. But in this his body and mind’s growth suffers.
  • Such a child will be more ‘spaced out’, can communicate with the astral/sub-conscious realms and can move on the spiritual path quite well if he gets guidance from a responsible Guru.
  • The Ketu Mahadasha is followed by Venus Mahadasha so then this child will suddenly seem to blossom, develop, create relationships etc. (Unless Ketu is conjoint Venus, in such a case the Venus Mahadasha will be a similar continuation of the Ketu experience, 20 more years of it)
  • If Ketu is aspected by benefics and placed well, the effects will be less severe. Also evaluate the strength of the Moon, the house he is placed in. And the power of the ascendant lord for a more complete picture.

If the rising ascendant degree is in the Ketu owned Nakshatra Gandant, it will give pronounced effects on the physical/manifested body more that the astral/emotional self. It can result in Ketu type of medical problems including surgeries, physical handicaps, etc depending on severity.

Gandant the gap of the zodiac

Now when the birth moon is in the Mercury owned Nakshatra Gandant, these will be the last parts of the watery signs Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio.

Mercury considers the Moon as an enemy and this planetary conflict impacts the mind-set of the person throughout his life. Moon is drowned in Pisces, dual natured, uncertain, confused and is great in the astral. Then Cancer is his own sign so double strength Moon energy. And in Scorpio he is debilitated drilling into the watery depths of his mind with catastrophic force. Then the gandant,

  • The person is in the final phase of the Mercury mahadasha, most likely the Saturn sub-period/ chidradasha. The last antardasha phase/chidradasha is a very uncomfortable position, as the mind releases all the unmet expectations and consolidates all the achievements made during the closing Mahadasha and prepares itself for the next planet’s new Mahadasha.
  • This is also the change from one set of 9 Nakshatras to the next set of 9 Nakshatra energies. It is deeply transforming at all levels.
  • It is state of flux on the sub-conscious and emotional levels, and the child has been born in this! The more closer to the junction of the signs the more severe the effect. It can be a very dangerous and traumatic period and under malefic influences can result in severe mental and physical damage.
  • Now after the Mercury Mahadasha starts the Ketu Mahadasha which then is 7 years of Ketu’s apathy, abandonment and indifference related issues as above.
  • Evaluate the positions of Mercury, Ketu, the Moon and the ascendant lord for a detailed picture.

If the rising ascendant sign is in the Mercury owned Nakshatra Gandant, the effects will be seen more on the physical body rather than the mind and the emotions. In such cases, there is a chance of misdiagnosis or incomplete information and Mercury type of medical problems in the early childhood.

Gandant the gap of the zodiac

Some astrologers apply the Gandant concept to all planets, depending on the question being asked. However generally it is used for the birth Moon and the ascendant degree. It is more severe for the birth Moon because it denies the love, protection, nurturing, comfort of a mother. (If the parents deny maternal/paternal love it causes a life time of trauma.)

Ascendant degree gandant creates hidden weaknesses in the body because the birth is at the junction of the watery-fiery signs. These weaknesses may not be visible generally but may suddenly erupt during the transits and dasha periods of the ascendant lord.

If you get a baby’s or young child’s horoscope with these issues, there is a set of pujas to be done to fortify the health, this should be done as early in life as possible. Do analyse the birth chart for longevity in these cases to rule out the possibility of physical death during Mercury’s or Ketu’s Mahadashas. You can also counsel the parents to pay more attention to their child if it is possible. Ensuring that the child gets emotional and physical support, though he may not respond to such loving overtures, will support him deeply in his Ketu period.

Now if you get such charts of adult clients for analysis, it is possible that they may be quite high achieving individuals. But they will have deep seated issues caused by the strange Ketu dominated childhood. These persons will have faced typical issues when they were babies/infants. They might not be consciously aware of the issues but their internal self does. If you feel that the impact is not too severe you can do a simple guided mediation to accelerate the healing process. But if the impact is too severe as seen from the chart, it is best let the client recover himself slowly and gradually through his own spiritual practice. However these charts are quite rare, maybe one out of a 100 will have a significantly Gandant moon or ascendant degree.

Moon gandant however can be quite strangely spiritual, interested in the occult and very aware of the other dimensions, interacting with the other energies quite easily. These persons have been born with a built-in bais against the manifested, right from their birth. They expect detachment from the manifested, and if other planetary placements support, can achieve Moksh.

 

Gandant the gap of the zodiac

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Libra and more on interpreting charts

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I recently read a comment on Facebook that Libra/Tula is the worst ascendant to have, and this comment was being ‘liked. These sort of immature and unbalanced comments can dishearten genuine aspirants from learning this ancient science of Jyotish. So here is my experience with Libra ascendant. This sign is represented by a balance scale perfectly in balance. Every sort of energy is perfectly balanced by this ascendant.

When you read a horoscope there are two things you must remember. Each house is influenced by two signs.

  1. The sign that is actually occupying it and
  2. The sign of the zodiac which would naturally occupy it.

If the ascendant is Taurus the first house will be influenced by 1.Taurus which is actually rising and 2.Aries the first natural sign of the zodiac. Aries will be the subtle influence overlaid on the expression of Taurus here. Whatever may be the rising sign, Aries will always have a say on the matters of the 1st house wherever it may be located in the chart. The two signs and their traits influence each other and mingle to create the 1st house. Now for every ascendant sign Aries will be placed in different houses too. This placement i.e. house number where Aries is placed will also influence your 1st house characteristics.

Similarly Taurus will always influence the 2nd house in addition the actual sign occupying the 2nd house, and so on till Pisces which will always subtly influence the 12th house.

Libra and more on interpreting charts

So when the ascendant is Libra rising, the 1st house will be influenced by the two signs Libra itself and Aries. Two signs, Libra and the sign exactly opposite it, 180 degrees away Aries both now interact to create the personality. For each and every house the actual sign and the sign exactly opposite it will create the house. Eg, the 2nd house will be a composite of Scorpio and its exact opposite Taurus. Similarly the 3rd is a composite of Sagittarius and Gemini. So on till the 12th house is a composite of Virgo and its opposite Pisces.

It is just like you rent your house to your perfect partner and you take his house on rent yourself. Now both you and this guy are interested in the welfare and maintenance of both these houses. And both these houses are right in front of each other so that both of you check on your actual houses all the time.

I had written a post on how a sign and the sign 180 degrees away from it/opposite to it, are complementary. These two signs are mirror images, both filling each other’s blanks. This is the subtle balance that Libra represents. In every aspect of life denoted by each and every house, the natural sign of that house is placed exactly opposite to that house thus subtly completing the missing bits of actual sign occupying the house. Thus the Balance of Libra. The first house is the 7th sign. The force of personality, conquest, competition etc is tempered with the need to ally, to balance, to partner. Thus you get the balance. The second house is the 8th sign. Here the need to preserve family treasures, home life, party and pleasure, food and drink is tempered with the need to work in secret, putting your assets to use and to transform them, to travel, to meditate and delve deeper into the self. Thus every house is in perfect Balance. There are no extremes.

There is another way that the Balance of Libra works. Each planet is placed in a house which is a composite of the sign occupying it and its mirror image. Eg if there is a Saturn placed in Virgo in the 12th house, it will give a combination result of Saturn in 12th (subtly Pisces too) and Saturn in Virgo (subtly the 6th house too). So its result is a balanced and a well negotiated alliance between so many mirrored forces. No extremes will be allowed here, it will be ultimately very harmonious.

If the ascendant is Aries, the first natural house is the first house. There is no mingling of traits between signs to create the house, thus the expression is ‘pure Aries’. Every house in this chart will express its pure traits, eg the 2nd house will be pure Taurus, 3rd as pure Gemini and so on. So the balance or imbalance of each house is felt even more acutely. The first house Aries will definitely give a force of personality and the 7th Libra will give a sense of relationships. But somewhere this person will come across as overbearing and uncaring, and driving in his own point of view, accepting other’s view points only to perhaps to debate them later.

Now a counter example of unbalance, Virgo ascendant. Here the first house is created by a composite of Virgo itself and subtly Aries. In this chart Aries the first sign will occupy the 8th house. The subtle agent of the entire personality, Aries is in the house of forceful transformations of identity. The entire personality becomes subtly more fluid, prone to sudden traumatic identity changes. It is like the solidity of the first house is subtly submerged in the forceful transformations of the 8th. Also the natural owner of each and every house is placed 8th from this house, giving this same effect of subtle forced traumas in the matters of every house. More, the house is now placed 6th from its natural sign, giving a subtle ‘need to serve’. Another example of typical unbalance is the Scorpio ascendant. Here Aries occupies the 6th house and subtly influences the 1st house from here. The personality is again afflicted by the 6th-8th axis problems of servitude, service, transformations of identity, secrets and catastrophic changes.

But unbalance and balance both are necessary. If everything is balanced and harmonious there would be no incentive to grow and improve. And on the other hand if everything was unbalanced there would be no scope/opportunity to evolve. So there is to be a balance between balance and unbalance itself. Both are necessary.

This is how each house is to be analysed,

  1. the actual sign occupying it, the owner planet and his placement.
  2. the natural sign and its location, occupying planets and aspects also have a subtle influence on it.
  3. the axis between the actual and natural signs also has its say.

So in conclusion Libra is a good, balanced and harmonious ascendant to have! Analysing charts is intelligently comparing aspects and influences, subtle and gross both. Sticking on just one characteristic of a planet or sign will lead to lopsided and inaccurate readings. Give time to each chart and reading and try to analyse it in a wholistic manner without pre-judgement and pre-conceptions. Every chart is different, and every individual unique!

 

Libra and more on interpreting charts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ascendant and its planetary Lord

astrologerbydefault9 Comments

The ‘Lagna’ in Jyotish is the intersection of the east horizon with the ecliptic at a given time. This Lagna at the moment of your birth becomes your Ascendant degree. The rashi/sign in which this degree falls is your Ascendant sign and its planetary ruler the Lagnesh. In the excitement of the Moon-signs and Sun-signs, you often ignore the Ascendant-sign/Lagna and its planetary ruler/the Lagnesh! The Ascendant is extremely important as the tone of the entire horoscope is set from planet. For peeping into your personality there are a minimum 3 charts that you need to refer.

  1. The basic birth chart called the first divisional chart D-1, or the Janma kundali.
  2. The Chandra kundali, where the placement of the planets is the same as the D-1 above but the moon sign is counted as the first house. The chart is redrawn by shifting the houses accordingly.
  3. The Navamsha chart or the 9th divisional chart, but only if you are sure that the birth time is exact to the minute, else it is of no use, it will mislead.

The Ascendant and its planetary Lord

The Ascendant Lord/Lagnesh has a very special place in the chart and you really should analyse it separately for gleaning the maximum information from its placement.

A Lagnesh is empowered and capable of giving very good results if

  1. It is exalted
  2. It is in its swakshetra or a favourable house in the chart.
  3. In company of or aspected by benefic planets or functional benefics for that ascendant sign.

Such a Lagnesh will give a favourable situation of birth and a family of comfortable means and status in society. It will also provide you with a good quotient of self-confidence and expression. The sign/house in which the lagnesh is placed will provide an indication as to where you will feel most comfortable. E.g the lagnesh in the 10th house will grant you extra comfort in your professional life, you will be socially well known because of your activities in the professional field.

On the other hand a badly placed Lagnesh is when

  1. It is debilitated or in the dushamsthana, the 6th, 8th or 12th houses.
  2. It is in unnatural movement and situations like combust or retrograde or the loser of a planetary war.
  3. It is conjoint or aspected by malefic or functional malefic planets.

Such a Lagnesh will not be able to express itself fully. You will be born in a rather socially low family. Your personal self-esteem and awareness and Ego will be low. And thus your role and activity in the social context will be of a lower degree. e.g. The ascendant lord in the 6th house will bring you to situations where you will be surrounded by the negativity of disease, debts, enemies, either serving or suffering!

The Ascendant Sign of the birth chart and its Lord.

This is the foundation of the manifested social, material, ego and physical environments of your life. The activity patterns of your life. The physical structure of the body/face and the major personality traits, which also indicate how the society will respond to you. E.g if you are beautiful you will be better received in the society. The house/sign which is occupied by the ascendant lord, Lagnesh is of particular importance. E.g one of my clients has his Libra ascendant lord Venus/Shukra in the 5thhouse in Aquarius/Kumbh. He works for the government, is a good judge, fair/balanced and likes writing. The Lagnesh and its position determines which environment is best suited for giving you social recognition and also the best use of your personal attributes (irrespective of your personal inclinations/emotions). Thus Lagnesha has a role in your career choice. The ‘physical personality’ is the birth chart or the first divisional chart.

The Chandra Kundali and the birth Moon rashi and its ruler.

In this birth Moon chart, the placement of the planets is the same as the D-1 chart but the first house is the birth Moon sign. The moon sign will tell you about those environments where you will be naturally comfortable. Also to predict the emotional outcome of an event the moon chart is to be referred. We are not just our physical body visible to the normal two eyes. We are also our ‘other’ body which is sensed by the Third eye. You must have felt this instinctive reaction to someone you have just met, you might excessively like or dislike or feel fear or repulsion towards someone for no good reason. There is a reason for such instinctive reactions and this depends on the Chandra kundali/Moon chart.

In simple words, your aura and response of others to your aura is determined here. You perceive others on the basis of their aura, your perception of ‘beauty’ ‘clean’ and even physical qualities like ‘height’ etc have a significant aura component. You may feel small when depressed or expanded when overjoyed. Here your perception of yourself is also linked to the aura. Your emotions are reflected in the aura. Your physical body is the product of the astral, the causal, the spiritual etc bodies. These are also felt through the aura. If your moon chart is well balanced, irrespective of what happens in the physical world, internally you will be quite happy. This is the ‘emotional personality’, the domain of the Moon chart.

The Ascendant and its planetary Lord

The Navamsha D-9 chart and its Lagna/Lagnesh

Now we come to the third chart. The 9th divisional chart tells you, ‘How do you really see your own self?’.

Often you meet someone who has a very low opinion of himself though the society regards him very highly, or someone who thinks very high of himself and the public thinks he is a crook. This mismatch of the self-opinion and public-opinion can be understood from the D-1 birth chart and the D-9 Navamsha. This is very useful in analysing a personality and in counselling. Eg If the birth chart has the ascendant lord placed well in the 5th house this person will have a very strong intelligence, creativity and his personality will be driven by these 5th house things. But if in the D-9 this Lagnesh shifts to a sign ruled by Jupiter, this person will now be interested in the philosophical side of his creativity. The solid things of the material creativity might not appeal much to him. So while recommending a remedy for him if you should suggest mantra-jaap, he will like doing it. But if in the D-9 the ascendant lord gets placed in a sign ruled by Saturn, he would prefer to work e.g. helping others, as a more appealing way for satisfying karma. You determine your deep motivations and your astral resources from the 9th divisional chart.

I see a very strange trend in modern western astrology. They have forgotten the basic mathematics of Astrology and added asteroids and what-nots to their version of astrology, thus messing it up. You don’t need to complicate the science, instead focus on the basic analysis. The basic birth chart and the 9 planets can be used to know everything about yourself. Now this is an example of how you draw extra information from the basic birth chart D-1. Every planet is the natural keyword of an aspect of your life and from each planet’s sign you can draw a chart for that specific planet. This planet-chart (like moon chart) will be a variation of the basic birth chart D-1 but drawn with that planet’s sign as the first house.

  1. The Sun loves the center-stage. The Surya-lagna and the corresponding Surya-kundali will tell you all that you know about creativity, divine intelligence, self-confidence, political performance and other qualities of the Sun that you are channeling in this life. Eg the 3rd sign/planets from the birth Sun will tell you how you shine in your sibling groups, and if your communications have a high intelligence and analytical ability.
  2. The Moon wants emotional security. So the Chandra Kundali, described above, will tell you all that you feel about emotions, stability, protection from all aspects of your life. Eg the 10thsign/planets from your birth moon will tell you how you feel emotionally about your profession.
  3. Mercury likes to analyse. Here from the birth Mercury sign as the first house, you draw the Mercury chart. Find all about conversations, messages, arguments, logic, chitchat, siblings, analytical power, perceptions and juvenile behaviour. Eg the 7th sign/planets from the birth Mercury will tell you how you communicate with your spouse and your partners.
  4. The Venus needs partnerships of all types, either with a physical partner or a deity or your higher self. The Venus chart counted from the birth Venus sign as the baseline will show you how partnerships, alliances, marriage and negotiations work in your life. E.g. the 10th sign/planets from this Venus birth sign will tell you if your professional life is based on fairness, and if you enjoy a fair partnership in your office/profession related relationships.
  5. The Mars wants to win always, he represent the status of the physical body. From the birth Mars sign you can find out how vital you are in all aspects of your life. Eg. The 5thsign/planets from the birth Mars sign will tell you how your competitive spirit is utilized in matters of personal creativity and genius, or your children.
  6. The Jupiter loves to teach and philosophise. To know how your wisdom and sense of humanity affects your life and relations check out the placement of the signs/planets counted from the birth Jupiter sign. E.g. To find out how you will guide or be guided by your ancestral spirits and sub-conscious check out the 12thsign/planets from your birth Jupiter sign.
  7. The Saturn will ensure you work in a lawfully correct scheduled manner. To determine all society related obligations, material work, Time, and resistance and constrictions in your life check out the placements of the planets/signs counted from the birth Saturn sign. E.g. To determine the sense of restrictions and obligations related to your children see the 5th sign/planets counted from the birth Saturn sign.

The Ascendant and its planetary Lord

In addition, there are several other charts which are used for very specific purposes. And there are the higher divisional/varga charts. Your local astrologer will rarely use them as they require detailed mathematics as well as knowledge to interpret. So if as a beginner in astrology if you encounter any terms like, Arudha lagna, Indu lagna, Vishesheka lagna, etc you can safely ignore them. Jaimini system especially has loads of such charts and special degrees, but it is an advanced phase of astrology. Right now we are analysing how your personality is built up using the three major charts where their Ascendant sign and its ruler planet are the foundation stones.

No two persons are the same and in Jyotish you cannot ever generalise, there are multiple forces which work together to influence and create a certain outcome. Analysing these forces is ultimately 75% mathematics and 25% intuition. Unless you develop your intuitive capacity by regular spiritual practice you really will not excel as an astrologer/Jyotishi.

And finally will let on a secret. The physical manifested body is produced from your past-life energies, i.e. the resources of the astral self. You can change your physically manifested body by consciously accessing and manipulating the energies available in the astral self. You may have noticed people who actively do yogic practices, dhyan etc which manipulate the pran/ vital energy, look visibly younger, energetic and radiant. My Dad is in his seventies and doesn’t have a wrinkle on face! You too should develop some spiritual practice which will not only nourish your soul but also sustain your physical body as long as you choose to reside in it.

 

The Ascendant and its planetary Lord