– Rohini Ranjan
April 11, 2004
www.boloji.com
When a child is born, a question asked or a new venture begun, that moment is believed to hold valuable information regarding the 'fate' and characteristics of that child, question or venture, just like a seed holds all that is required to grow into a tree. That which is born in a given moment has the qualities inherent in (indicated by?) that moment. This is the basic premise of astrology. In jyotish, the moment or epoch is associated primarily with 12 fixed indicators (signs) and ten variable indicators. The latter being: the seven visible ‘heavenly’ bodies, namely, sun, moon, mercury, Venus, mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the two lunar nodes, rahu and ketu, and the ascendant point on the zodiac or ecliptic belt that intersects the local horizon.
For ease of understanding, think of the zodiac as the rainbow. The point where the 'rainbow' -- that is the zodiac of constellations and signs - meets the eastern horizon marks the rising degree. This rising degree forms the mid-point of the first house. For practical purposes, the entire sign may be taken to represent the first house and the next sign (yet to rise in the east) then becomes the second house and if we continue following the zodiacal necklace of signs we would come a full circle to the sign that has already risen in the east and is completely above the horizon; this being known as the 12th house. The tenth house, is the sign that is right above our head or at the zenith.
There is no ‘logical’ reason behind the distribution of signs or why they are each 30 degrees long, although there is a parallelism between the planetary rulership and the order of the signs, though. The sign rulerships that are clustered around the two signs (traditionally considered to be) ruled by the lights sun and moon: Leo and cancer (simha and karka) are based on the orbital arrangement of the planets around the sun, so we have Gemini and Virgo ruled by mercury flanking the signs ruled by sun and moon; then Taurus and Libra ruled by Venus flanking the signs ruled by mercury, sun and moon; Aries and Scorpio ruled by mars; Pisces and Sagittarius ruled by Jupiter and Aquarius and Capricorn ruled by Saturn.
The arrangement, therefore is:
Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra, Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius.
ruled by:
Saturn, Jupiter, mars, Venus, mercury, SUN, MOON, mercury, Venus, mars, Jupiter, Saturn.
While viewing and measuring the signs, we come across certain signs that are of long ascension. This simply means that the signs ascend or rise across the horizon over a longer period of time in the northern hemisphere (the opposite is true for these signs in the southern hemisphere, what is of long ascension in the north is of short ascension in the southern hemisphere). This is caused by the obliquity of the ecliptic (due to the tilting of our planet) and leads to the observation of phenomena such as interception of the signs; some of the signs not rising at all at certain times during the year at higher latitudes (in Iceland for instance). In the horoscopes of individuals born at higher latitudes, therefore, some recommend the use of unequal house systems, something that is not very clearly or strongly indicated in traditional jyotish texts. Critics argue that this is because jyotish developed in regions of earth near the equator (such as India) where interception of signs is not observed and hence it is not mentioned in jyotish texts. In my opinion, sign-based houses seem to work very well in the cases of higher latitude births that I have had the opportunity to study. The jury is still out on this one.
One can think of the signs as being the products of the orbit of the earth around the sun while the houses result from the rotation of the earth around its axis. The daily and annual motion of earth in space therefore leads to the perception of sign and houses. The perspective of astrology is, therefore, primarily geocentric or perhaps more precisely, geotopocentric, as some might like to emphasize. The relatively very few heliocentric (astrology with sun at the centre - which leads to a significant shift in the location of planets in signs, often as much as by 6-7 signs) astrologers may disagree!
So, when we look at a horoscope, the first house defines the view of the eastern horizon at the place for the time of birth or epoch that the horoscope is cast for. If we face the west, we are in essence facing the 7th house, the 10th house would then represent the roof of the sky (as if we are looking upwards) and the 4th house would be under our feet. The observer is, in other words, placed with his head pointing towards the 10th house, feet towards the 4th house, and eyes turned either towards east or west depending on which way he is facing. The typical western horoscope circle with the first house placed in the 9'O clock position assumes that the observer is standing up. The north Indian horoscope assumes that the observer is placed horizontally
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The Numbers mentioned in the chart mean the number of the house. 1 = First House
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The above depicts the ‘North Indian’ chart which looks like a collection of diamonds and triangles in a square or rectangle frame. The first house or ascending sign or Lagna sign is always placed in the top diamond, labeled here as the First house. The 'number' in it represents the sign, a ‘1’ denotes Aries or Mesha rising, a ‘5’ denotes Leo rising and so on. Some people (programs) replace the number with an zodiacal glyph which would feel more familiar to some. The organization of the signs is counter clockwise and would represent the visual progression of signs through the day, if someone were looking at the zodiacal circle from a south-facing view, with east on the left hand side and west to the right. The 12th house would represent the sign that has already risen in the east and the first house being the sign that is rising now, while second house would be the sign that would rise in the east, next. In this format, therefore, the place for houses is fixed, but those for signs vary from chart to chart.
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The South Indian style chart is like a square. The place marked with an asterisk is reserved for Aries. The signs follow Aries, Taurus, Gemini etc. The count is made clockwise round the rectangle. The sign rising is marked Asc. or by L which denotes Lagna or the Ascendant. |
This is the South Indian format of the chart in which the signs are fixed in location but houses vary in position from chart to chart. A planet in the upper right corner would always be one in Gemini or Mithun. For orientation, the Lagna is indicated in words or simply by a diagonal line drawn in the square which represents the ascending sign, in cancer or Karka, in this illustration. The progression of the zodiac is clockwise and it represents the viewpoint of someone who is viewing the zodiac while facing north, with east falling towards his right hand and west towards his left hand. This arrangement or format is probably better suited for those following Jaimini system, since the opposite signs (such as Gemini to Sagi, Pisces to Virgo, Aries to Vrishchik, Aquarius to cancer, and Libra to Leo shown in the example above) represent some of the sign aspects (lines of flow of astrological energy) used in this system. There are other ways of drawing the charts as well, the lotus formation, the circle (similar to western, though with ascendant in the pie-slice at 12'O clock, rather than to the one at 9'O clock. It is not too difficult to become familiar with any or all of these formations, though most people prefer to use one kind.
Jyotish uses the sidereal (based on stars) zodiac. The tropical (season-based) zodiac is yoked to the declinational journey of the sun (actually the earth wobbles; this gives rise to the apparent movement of the sun, which gives us the seasons. Tropical zodiac considers the spring equinox (first day of Spring in Northern or the first day of autumn in the Southern hemisphere) as the beginning of the zodiac, the 1st point of Aries with other signs in the tow. The sidereal zodiac utilizes the stars as the orientation for the signs and thus is yoked to the visible constellations (the ram, the bull, the scorpion, as they show up in the sky). The sidereal zodiac moves backwards very slowly (about 2000+ years per 30 degree sign) giving rise to the "precession of equinoxes". Visualize the two zodiacal circles sidereal and tropical as two yoked wheels, connected at the same axle, slowly slipping out of phase with one another as they move through time. This is the very phenomenon that makes the north pole point towards different ‘pole stars’ as the earth moves through millenia.
A correction increasing over time, named as 'ayanamsha' when applied to the tropical longitudes of a planet gives rise to the sidereal longitude. The current difference between the two zodiacs is approximately 24 degrees. Different values of ayanamsha in vogue include, Lahiri, Krishnamurti, Raman, Yukteshwar, Fagan/Bradley, etc. This raises some confusion and uncertainty but in practice is less of a difficulty than often made out to be. From what I have been told, a group of the Indian ephemeris makers have decided to choose Lahiri ayanamsha, but it is very difficult to estimate how many jyotishis in India or in the entire world actually use this or any other ayanamsha. Such a huge poll has not been conducted and is probably impossible. The choice of ayanamsha can have significant impact on the finer varga charts used in jyotish or in some time-sensitive dashas such as Kalchakra dasha, but there are also other uncertainties, including inaccurate birth times and different opinions/interpretations about calculating some of these dashas, or whether to use the 365 day year or 360 day year, to use geo- or topocentric position of the moon, etc. that make the finding of a definitive answers regarding which parameters to choose, difficult if not impossible. I would strongly urge beginners to first focus on the basic techniques that have been widely used, are effective in most cases and less subject to the various sensitivity factors, before they move on to some of the finer divisions or other dashas, and rectification, or other advanced techniques. In jyotish, one would face many opportunities to be drawn to (or confused by) different choices of quantities and calculations and in order to preserve ones sanity it is best to stick with the same set of factors or variables for a significant amount of time making changes cautiously and judiciously, rather than flitting all over the place, swayed by a strongly worded view, article or book.
A sidereal sign is 30 degrees long and is divided into 3 sub-areas. These represent the asterisms.
There are 27 asterisms or nakshatras in the 360 degree zodiac and each 800 min or 13d 20m segment represents an area ruled by a planetary ruler (other rulers are also prescribed for these and have metaphysical and mythological significance. These can also be treated as mnemonics for memorizing the properties of the nakshatras and its attributes). Aries or mesha, for instance, contains Ashwini ruled by ketu, bharini ruled by Venus and the first quarter of krittika ruled by sun. Krittika then continues in vrishabha or Taurus, followed by the asterisms of moon and mars. There being 9 'planets', ketu, Venus, sun, moon, mars, rahu, Jupiter, Saturn and mercury, the roster of asterisms ruled by these planets in the stated order, repeats thrice giving 9 x 3 = 27 asterisms. Asterisms ruled by all 9 planets form three sequential sets, each of which begins with a fire sign (Aries, Leo or sag), progresses through the earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) and ends with the water (cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) signs. More details can be studied in other articles by me.
Deg min Deg min Deg min Asterism ruled by
000 00 120 00 240 00 Ketu
013 20 133 20 253 20 Venus
026 40 146 40 266 40 Sun
040 00 160 00 280 00 Moon
053 20 173 20 293 20 Mars
066 40 186 40 306 40 Rahu
080 00 200 00 320 00 Jupiter
093 20 213 20 333 20 Saturn
106 40 226 40 346 40 Mercury
A sign or constellation in jyotish is called a rashi or a heap (of stars). The names are given below:
SIGN RASHI
Aries Mesh
Taurus Vrishabh
Gemini Mithun
Cancer Kark
Leo Simh
Virgo Kanya
Libra Tula
Scorpio Vrishchik
Sagittarius Dhanu
Capricorn Makar
Aquarius Kumbh
Pisces Meen
MALEFIC/BENEFIC
Jyotish uses two kinds of labels for a planet or in some cases for houses as well: malefic/benefic and strong/weak. The two are separate types of qualifiers. Planets such as Jupiter, Venus, waxing moon and well-associated mercury are intrinsically benefic and are blessed with softer, gentler natures, even-keeled disposition, and indicate happiness, generosity, compassion and kindness. Planets such as Saturn, mars, sun, nodes, waning moon are malefic and are of harsh, cruel, brusque, hard-hearted, selfish, acquisitive and aggressive nature. One should not apply these labels too literally, though. Not all individuals with moon or Jupiter in Lagna are kind or gentle or even moral, necessarily.
A benefic planet can be weak or strong in a horoscope and this would tend to make its 'impression' and expression weak or strong in the life of someone. Generally speaking, planets that are exalted lean towards the benefic side of their nature while those that are debilitated express the malefic end of their spectrum of expression, regardless of their inherently benefic or malefic disposition. The strength of a planet can be determined in many ways, and to some extent is a technical matter that is based partly on mathematical derivation using systems such as shadbala, etc. and are based on the placement of planets in certain sign or house and on some time-based factors, as well as the number of own or benefic divisions that the planet obtains in the various varga chart. Beginners tend to use the 'ready-made' values that most programs generate. Many books are also available on this somewhat advanced topic. It is good to familiarize oneself with the details of these methods and these sources of strength. A simplified system based on five factors has proved to be quite helpful as a quick primary approximation. I have published this in The Astrological Magazine in 1980 and in 1992 in a slightly modified manner in the NCGR member letter. It is discussed further on in this article.
RELATIONSHIPS
One would often come across concepts in jyotish such as, a planet being afflicted, or conversely being fortified by another or being associated with another planet. These are very important considerations to understand and remember since much of the jyotish synthesis is based on these sambandhs or relationships between planets. One form of relationships is based on friendships, permanent and temporal. The other form is based on aspect, placement and dispositorship. A planet that is located in a house has a very strong influence on such a house. A planet that exchanges positions with lord of another house (lord of 1 in 5 and lord of 5 in 1) create strong zones of mutual influence. Some individuals have taken such mutual reception as being equivalent to each of the two planets being in its own sign and therefore very strong. A planet that is placed with a lord of a certain house or in the other sign of the lord of a house also has association with the said house. A planet in ruled-ruled Sagittarius in 2 nd house will also be connected to the fifth house where Pisces, the other sign of Jupiter falls. Similarly, a planet aspecting a house or its lord has a relationship with that house too. There are finer relationships based on dispositorship of a sign and asterism which must be considered for a comprehensive picture. A planet occupying a sign would influence its lord (dispositor) as well as the planet in whose asterism (nakshatra) it is located. The effect would be strongly felt during the planetary period (generally vimshottari dasha) or sub period of the dispositor.
