The Lords of the Houses

In vedic astrology, each of the twelve houses of the horoscope is considered to be the same as one of the twelve signs. In other words, one sign perone house. That is the vedic system. In western astrology, there are a number of different house systems employed and most of them are not the equal house system that vedic astrologers use. Most of them do not exactly align the houses of the chart with the signs but rather, the houses start with anywhere within a sign and may end within that same sign or somewhere in the middle of the next sign. In this way the signs in the house are not aligned, but are two independent wheels discussed separately.

But in standard vedic astrology, whatever sign is rising no matter what the rising degree is, that entire sign is considered as the first house, and that the next sign in the zodiac is the second house and so on. In this way there is an exact correlation between sign and house in vedic astrology. All of the twelve signs of the zodiac are ruled by one of the seven planets.

Sun and moon each lord over one sign only. Namely Leo and Cancer.Whereas the other planets each have two signs for which they are the lord. This is always the case. The signs never have different lords. In a horoscope, as mentioned, one sign is considered the rising sign and the other signs follow in their natural order and take control over the other eleven houses of the horoscope. Whatever planet lords over each of the signs becomes the lord of the house that that sign controls.

For example, if Taurus is the rising sign, then Venus is the lord of the first house since Venus is the lord of Taurus. The second house would then be Gemini and therefore mercury would then be called The Lord of the Second.' Then Cancer would be in third house and therefore the moon would be called The Lord of the Third.' There are a number of words for Lord in Sanskrit and one of them is 'Pati'. This is the most commonly used word when referring to the lords of the houses in Sanskrit. So in our example, Shukra would be the Thanupati. Which means 'lord of the Thanusthana.' Which means the house of the body or the first house.

In this way the various lords are referred to by the main name that the house is called to in sanskrit.

But the most important thing is to know the natural order of the twelve signs very fluently and to therefore know quickly which planets rule each of the twelve houses for each twelve possible rising signs. Thus if a particular sign is rising, the student astrologer must be able to quickly ascertain in their mind which planet ill be the lord of the ninth house, which planet will be the planet of the fourth house, hich planet is the lord of the eleventh house, etc.

This process of instantly knowing the lords of the houses in very important and fundamental vedic astrology. If a very solid, graphical, picture is somehow learned, remembered and lodged in the mind of the twelve houses in their natural order. And the distances between each. Then this process becomes very easy. This requires that the astrologer have the kind of mind which can quickly determine distances between two points within a circle.

For example, the distance between Capricorn and Taurus is five signs. Because you start counting from the first one. In this case Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, that's five. What is the distance between Virgo and Aquarius? Six houses. In this way one must be able to quickly know immediately the number of houses one sign is away from another sign. With experience and practice this becomes easy.

Now let us begin to examine the importance and use of the lords in vedic astrology.The first house rules the body amongst other things. All things about the body can be determined from the first house and its lord, aspects upon the first house and the lord of the first house, as well as planets that reside in the first house, etc. In this chapter we are concerned with the lords primarily, so let us focus on that.

Each lord must be somewhere in the horoscope, so the lord of the first house or sign must be in one of the twelve signs. According to which sign he is in, that also determines the house. Let's take the example of cancer rising. The moon is the lord of Cancer. By seeing which sign the moon is in, we then instantly know what house the moon is in as well.

Let us imagine that the Moon is in Gemini, on a I particular horoscope which has Cancer rising. Since Gemini 4s one sign before Cancer, this would put the lord of the first in the twelfth house. Because Cancer is rising, moon is the lord, Gemini is therefore the twelfth house and therefore we say The Lord of the first is in the twelfth'.

Primarily, two things happen when a lord goes to any house. Of these two things, by far the most important to know and understand and be able to read is that the house shapes the lord that comes to stay in it. For example, the eighth house is a seriously bad house. Of all the houses in the horoscope, the eighth has the most power to cause bad effects.

Therefore, when the lord of the first house goes to the eighth house in a horoscope, then serious physical harm comes to the body. We never like to see the lord of the first house in the eighth house. Because it means serious difficulty will come to that person during their lifetime.

So the principle is the house that a lord goes to greatly effects the affairs of life ruled by the houses that that lord concerned rules.

Again for example, let us say that Taurus is rising. Therefore Venus is lord of the first house as well as the sixth house. If Venus is found in the ninth house then the highly benefic affects of the ninth house flow in a great way towards the first and sixth houses because the ninth house is holding their lord, passing it's benefic effects onto the first lord who therefore passes them on to this own houses. Therefore, to have the lord |pf the first in the ninth house which is the most fortunate house in the horoscope, is a very positive lordship placement.

If the lord of the first is in the sixth house, since the sixth house is one of the most detrimental houses because it passes the effects of death, diseases and enemies onto the planets it controls, therefore these more negative aspects of life will be placed onto the first lord who will then pass them along to the first house, and the other house he rules (if he be one of the planets other than the Sun and Moon which rule only one house each).

Now let us briefly examine the main areas of life that each of the twelve houses controls and how this might affect a particular lord, namely the lord of the first.

If the lord of the first is placed in the first house, we could say that the body becomes the focus of the body. In other words, the person focuses much on their own life, their own self their body during this lifetime.

If the lord of the first is placed in the second (use then the body, first lord, shall be greatly influenced by and focused upon the things the second house rules such as family and wealth. Thus people who have lord of the first in the second, are found often to be entangled with and coming from a strong family background and they are concerned with accumulating wealth in some way.

If the lord of the first is placed in the third house, then the body is found to be connected with one's younger brothers and sisters, the acquisition of college degrees, spiritual initiations and other things that the third house rules.

Since the fourth house rules mother, home, heart and happiness, if the lord of the first is placed there then we find that the person will be greatly concerned with these affairs during their life They will likely spend a lot of time at home, since the first lord rules the body and the fourth house rules home, we find their body at hom rather than on the road or at work etc.

At this point, let us take a small digression into greater complexity and note that since the fourth house is tenth from the seventh house, it therefore stands for the career of the spouse. So if the lord of the first is in the fourth, then we will find likely in the life that the person's body will have some connection with the career of the spouse. This means that
the person might work for their spouse or work with their spouse and since the fourth also rules the home of the person, we may expect that they work for the spouse or"with the spouse in their own home in perhaps a home-based business.

So the point here is to see that not only does each house rule something when counted from the Ascendant, but it also rules other things depending on its distance from other houses. In this way the placements of the lords have their first level meanings and then second, third, fourth and deeper and deeper meanings depending upon the astrologers ability to read the complexity of the house relationships. If the lord of the first is placed in the fifth house, then the concemspf children, creativity, romance and what one does to make others happy becomes the focus of their bodily activities to a large degree, especially during periods ruled by the lord of the first house in the Vimshottari dashas.

To understand when things will take place we need to look to the dashas. It is worth mentioning and always remembering that effects take place at certain times in the life according to dashas and transits.

If the lord of the first is placed in the sixth house, then the effects of deaths, diseases and enemies overwhelm the person at points in their life. Obviously that is not a good placement for the lord of the first.

If the lord of the first is placed in the seventh house, then the person is heavily focused on their partner, their spouse, etc. during their life.

If the lord of the first is placed in the eighth house, as already mentioned, unforeseen difficulties and serious problems arise at life and overwhelm the lord of the first, or in other words, the person and their body in general.

If the lord of the first is placed in the ninth house phen there is an overall fortunate protective cover on the person's body throughout their lifetime; because the ninth house stands for fortune and all general good things that simply come from the environment.

If the lord of the first is placed in the tenth house, then the person's body or the life in general in other words, is heavily focused upon the attainment of career, status, position, and success are the domain of the tenth house.

Next, the eleventh house controls desires, friends oldest siblings, and gains. If the lord of the first is placed in the eleventh house, then the person is heavily focused upon the achievement ofi desires and certain gainful things in life.

If the lord of the first is placed in the twelfth house, since this house rules charity, donations, and losses, the person's body will therefore be used up in these ways throughout their life. In other words, they may donate themselves to causes. They may live for some other purpose other than their own life. Or in general there just may be a lot of loss in their life.

These are brief examples of how the placement of the first lord in the twelve houses affects the body or the life in general, since the first house stands for the body and the life in an overall general way. An astrologer must take each of the twelve lords and examine which house they reside in and predict the effects on each accordingly.

More examples: If the lord of the second is in the ninth, then fortune will come to the wealth since the ninth is fortune and the second is wealth. If the lord of the third is in the second, then the younger siblings will have a connection f :with wealth either by giving or taking..

Since the second is twelfth to the third, it indicates loss to the younger siblings, and since that lord would then reside in the second house of the horoscope, it is likely that that person will take the wealth of the person of whose horoscope it is. Or could it be that the younger siblings lose their wealth and donate it to the second house of the concerned person? This is the kind of difficult question that astrologers concern themselves with in their ongoing years of study. The answer of course lies in the nature of each planet concerned since any of the planets could be the lord of the third house depending on the rising sign.

If the lord of the fourth house is in the twelth house, since the twelfth house is ninth from fourth house, and the fourth house rules mother then we can understand that the mother will be strong in her religion. Because the fourth lord has gone to the ninth house from itself. That is similar to having lord of the first in the ninth for yourself. It indicates that the person in general tend to have strong faith, belief spirituality or religion. So if the fourth lord is in the twelfth, that means that the mother of the person has her own strong religion and it causes a great impact on the life of the individual whose chart we are examining.

If the lord of the ninth is in the eighth, generally this means that there is loss to the ninth house, since the eighth is twelfth from the ninth house. Since the ninth house stands for father, it often means that the father goes away. That there is loss of the father early in life. And indeed we see this lordship placement in many persons who were raised without a father present.

The lord of the sixth house is placed in the fifth house then there is a draining away of the negative things in life such as death, diseases and enemies. This is good. We do not want the sixth lord to be strong or prominent. We want him to be weakened because he carries many negative properties. The fifth house is twelfth to the sixth house and represents the loss of the sixth house. This is one reason the fifth house is such a good house because it stands for the ending or termination of deaths, diseases and enemies.

If the seventh lord is placed in the ninth house, then since the seventh rules spouse and the ninth one's religion, one may find their spouse in their religion. Or their spouse will have an effect upon their religion. Similarly, theii religion will have an effect upon their spouse.

When the seventh lord is placed in the tenth house, we find that the person works with their spouse because the tenth is work or career and the seventh is spouse. If the ninth lord is placed in the fourth, then fortune, ninth, comes upon their home, heart, etc. the things ruled by the fourth house.

If the tenth lord is placed in the eighth house, , since the tenth rules career and the eighth rules troubles, we find troubles come within the career efforts of the person or because of the career of the person. Most people who have the tenth lord in the eighth house have great difficulty establishing a career. Or when they do establish one, there is some sudden or serious troubles that come and greatly harm their progress in their career.

Because the eleventh lord has much to do with gains and achievement of one's desires, its placement in the various twelve houses tells us a lot about how well this person will achieve the desires in life and where their desires lay.

For example, if the eleventh lord is in the ninth house, then fortune flows to the achievement of their desires. If the eleventh lord is in the eighth house, then great trouble comes in the achievement of their desires. In this way one of the twelve houses exerts itself upon the eleventh lord and the things he controls. The twelfth lord rules loss and as we said, the house in which the lord resides greatly effects that lord and that lord's houses. So if the twelfth is in the ninth house then religion, spirituality, dharma and god above, have a great affect upon the losses in this person's life. What could this mean? It means that losses will come to this person because of their faith, spirituality, or acts of god. There will tend to be losses based upon the person's religion or by situations, which are good and righteous but still cause 'loss'.

We can relate an example from a person's life of the effects of the lord of the twelfth placed in the ninth: In the horoscope the ninth and twelfth lords is Jupiter and Jupiter is placed in the ninth house in Sagittarius. So he has lord of the twelfth in the ninth and lord of the ninth in the ninth. He began Jupiter major period around ten years of age.

Around the age of ten or eleven he was one day taken to the local Church where the priest told him and all his many brothers and sisters that the church and his mother had reached an understanding whereby his father would for sometime be placed in a veterans home for the disabled because he had a serious mental health problem. He was informed of the loss of his father in a church, by a priest. This example neatly ties together the effects of the twelfth and the ninth houses. Namely, loss, religion and father. There was a loss, twelfth lord, of his father, ninth lord, and since the lord of the ninth and twelfth is in the ninth, he heard about it in the ninth house, or in other words, at a Church, by a priest.

So this is one example of the practical effects of the lords. So the most important thing that happens to a lord placed in a house, is that the house it is placed in, greatly shapes how that lord will act. This is the first principle that must be fully understood and through studying real charts, learned; so that you can predict with this technique. In studying real charts of persons you know well, over a number of years, you will gradually see realistically the effects of the houses upon the lords.

The second thing that happens when a lord goes to a specific house, that lord brings his baggage to bear upon that house. This is different from what we were previously discussing. Previously we were discussing how the house affects the lord placed within it. Now what we are saying is that the lord brings effects upon the house he is placed within. This is the exact opposite principle, but it is also true. Both things occur simultaneously.

For example, in the example from the person's life that was given earlier, we saw that the twelfth lord brought his effect of loss upon the ninth house. But we also saw that the ninth house effected how the twelfth lord acted. In other words, there was loss of the person's father -that is the effect of the twelfth lord, but there was also the ninth lord, or the church and priest, involved in the loss - which was the ninth house inging its effects upon the twelfth lord.

Both of these principles have to be used in prediction. Let us take another lordship example in practical life.

There was a couple with two children. When we examine the charts of the husband and wife we find the husband has lord of the fifth in the second house while the wife has lord of the fifth in the first house. What in general does this say about each of their involvements with their two children? Overall which of them has more involvement with raising the children?

The correct answer would be the mother because she has lord of the fifth in the first house, which means that the fifth lord or children, has a great effect upon her first house, or her body. Whereas, the husband has the fifth lord in the second house which means that he may speak to the children more than anything else, since the second house rules one's mouth and speech. Also he will pay for the children's way in life often, since the second house is also wealth, especially at the children's time of rise in career. The father will shell out some money at that time in their lives because the second is tenth (career) from the fifth (children).

When you look at the realistic day to day lives of this family, the mother does most of the physical parenting, while the father mostly works on his career and talks to the children as their father, and he has a very good effect on them in that way. But when it comes to outings, bedtime readings, playing games, and just being with the kids, it is usually their mother who does these things and not their father. The father does however concern himself with making money and supporting the family.

What does Vedic astrology have to say about mothering? The answer is implied in every chart simply by the layout of the houses. The first house is tenth from the fourth house. In other words, our first houses, which represent our early lives, also represent the career, or tenth angle, from our mothers, or our fourth houses. So, the layout of the houses implies that during our early lives, our very bodies are the careers of our mothers. It is simply a fact of nature that mothers raise kids and the chart implies that this is their path or proper karma.

Karma means 'work' and the tenth house or tenth angle from any house rules karma. Karma is not a bad word. It simply refers to our actions. The tenth house also rules power and position. Our charts imply that our mother's power and position should have been found in raising us as strong, healthy, good children. If the lord of the fourth and first houses in our charts are not nicely placed, then it says something about how our mothers raised us.

Hopefully the above examples show how realistically the lords can be tied directly to real life. By learning what the houses stand for, placing those effects upon the lords, and then going further to understand the 'houses from houses' principle (like the 2nd is 10th from the 5th and thus stands somewhat for the rise of the children's career), then we can see life itself unfold before us in every person's chart.

The Signs And Houses Of Vedic Astrology

The most basic elements of Vedic astrology are the nine planets or heavenly bodies and the twelve signs of the zodiac and the twelve houses of the chart. When studying Vedic astrology, it is important to become familiar with the Sanskrit words for all the main components. Therefore, throughout this book, we will often refer to these Sanskrit words. To begin with, let it be known that the words planets and 'grahas' are synonymous. The twelve signs of the zodiac are called 'rashis' and the houses are called 'bhavas' or 'sthanas'. The nine planets used in Vedic astrology are the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. These are known in Sanskrit as Ravi or Surya, Chandra, Mangal or Kuja, Buddha, Guru, Shukra, Shani, Rahu and Ketu.

There are twelve houses in a chart. The chart is also called the 'Kundali Chakra'. The twelve houses govern all the various parts of our lives. The houses are domains in space. When you stand anywhere on the earth, at that moment you are surrounded by space all the way around you. Space even surrounds the earth which is below your feet. You are standing on a ball floating in space, so space surrounds you and your earth ball on all sides.

If you look directly East and point your hand at the Eastern horizon where the Sun rises, you are pointing in the direction of what is known as the first house. The first house governs the 30 degree span of space where the Eastern horizon is. Directly across from it, or on the Western horizon is the 7th house. From the first to the 7th are the 2nd through 6th houses.

Directly over your head is the 10th house. That is, straight up into space where the high noon Sun beams down on us is the 10th house. Straight below your feet covering the span of space on the other side of the earth from you, is the 4th house.

So the first house governs the Eastern horizon, the 2nd house is just below the Eastern horizon, the 3rd house is deeply below the Eastern horizon, the 4th house is directly underneath you, the 5th house is underneath you and behind a little bit. The 6th house is underneath you and behind you quite a bit. The 7th house is behind you covering the Western or Sunset horizon. The 8th house is just over your shoulder when you turn your head around and look behind you. The 9th house is above the top back part your head, the 10th house is straight over you head, the 11th house is what you see when you look upwards but not straight up. The 12th house is just slightly above the eastern horizon and this brings us back around to the first house which governs the eastern horizon.

In this way, the entire 360 degree circular span of space surrounding you and your earth are divided into 12 equal 30 degree sections, each of which has a number from 1-12 and is known as a house. Studying the parts of life that these houses govern is a large part of astrology.

For example, the 10th house, i.e. the span of space directly over head, governs power, position and our career to a large degree. Any planets in this span of space at the time of our birth greatly affect our career, power and status in life. As you study astrology, you will find this to be unfailingly true and eventually you will become so familiar with the effects of planets that effect this house that you will be able to tell much about the success and failure of any one's career whose chart you glance upon.

In conclusion, the 12 houses are always present. At every moment the 12 houses are present surrounding you and your earth. Besides the 12 houses there are 12 signs. It is important to differentiate in your mind between the 12 signs and the 12 houses. Let us examine this difference more closely and then ultimately bring the two together where they become one in Vedic Astrology.

First let us discuss the physical zodiac which is comprised of 12 main constellations also known as signs or rashis. The zodiac is a band of stars that surrounds the earth like a ring. There are 12 main constellations that form this great ring around us. The stars that we see in the night sky are mostly very, very far away. Amongst the millions of stars in the night sky, the 7 planets and two invisible planets in Vedic Astrology exist also, although they are much closer and they move. Besides these moving planets all the other stars are fixed out in space.

The zodiac is comprised of a band of these fixed stars, very far beyond the planets that form our immediate solar system. So you could say that the fixed stars of the night sky which includes the band called the zodiac altogether form the 'back drop' of the sky or the back drop against which our solar system is moving. For example, in astrology, we always speak of which sign a planet is in. The planets are not actually mixing in the stars at the sign, it is just that because the planet is circling with us around the sun, looking from earth towards the planet in question, we always see some sign of the zodiac as the back drop of that planet. For example, picture yourself standing in the middle of a circular room. There are seven other people with you in the room. You and the seven other people are all walking in circles around in the room. Some of you are closer to the wall, some of you are closer to the middle. You are all walking at different speeds, but you are all walking around the central point of the room. Some of you complete your circles around the center of the room on your own path very quickly and begin again, circling again and again. While others, walking closer to the outer edge, and perhaps walking slower due to their own natures, take longer to complete their circle around the room.

The wall of the room surrounding all of you is painted with 12 different distinct coloured sections. One section is orange, the next section is green, the next section is red and so on. You are walking on the 3rd or 4th ring out from the middle of the room. When you look to your right or left you see the other walkers within the room. Whenever you look at any one of them, you see a colored back drop behind them from your relative view point. For example, you may look at the person on the 5th ring from the center, and when you look at them you see that behind them is the green section of the wall which is I/ 12 of the circular wall surrounding all of you. If you were to refer to that person, you might say the 5th walker is in the green section. Looking yet at another person, you may see an old man on the very most outer ring, walking very slowly against the gray 1/12 of the back drop wall. You could then say, the old man who is on the outer most ring is currently in the gray section as he walks around the room.

In this way the various heavenly bodies known as grahas or planets are always, in relation to our vision, situated in front of one of the signs of the zodiac which is behind them. Thus we say that the planet is in a certain sign. It does not mean that the planet is actually in those stars at this time, but simply that that constellation (sign) is the back drop far away behind the planet as we gaze upon it. Apparently it is the will of the Lord that these relationships of the planets to signs and the houses in relation to us, is how the effects of the Gods can be read.

Our universe is so dependent upon the higher controlling demigods that what we see as our planet, the 12 divisions of space surrounding it (the houses) and the other floating planets in our solar system, are all actually a reflection the dance of various demigods during the minute fraction of their day that passes while we have: an entire lifetime. Their thoughts at a momentj reflected in the planets, control our entire lives1.

A real astrologer looks at the planets in a chart and having already become familiar with the nature of the demigods that each planet represents, can immediately tell the mood and effect upon the person whose chart it is. Vedic Astrology is actually a system of reading the effects of the demigods based on their positioning within a chart.

These three elements, the planets, signs and houses are the most important fundamental building blocks of Jyotish. One must become intimately familiar with the nature of these 33 items. Namely, 9 planets, 12 signs and 12 houses. After this there are 27 special stars or Nakshatras. The 27 Nakshatras are the most important stars in the zodiac. They are spaced roughly evenly around the zodiac and they control 13 degrees and 20 minutes of the zodiac each. First one must become familiar with the 33 main elements. Before we begin to study these elements in detail and individually, let us first take a brief overview of the process of actually reading the chart or practicing Vedic Astrology. Vedic Astrology works like this. You take an exact moment in time, such as for example, I and a date, such as May 18 1960, and a place! on earth, such as Oakland U.S.A. On that date, at that place, at that exact time, the heavens were in a certain position in relation to that spot on earth at that moment. That moment was the moment and place of a person's birth.

At that time, the sign known as Aries was rising on the eastern horizon. Roughly 1/4 of the sign had risen above the eastern horizon when that moment in history flashed by. The planet known as Venus was in the 30 degree domain of space close to the Eastern horizon, which we earlier discussed as being the first house. The Sun and Mercury were under the Eastern horizon, and they would soon rise above the Eastern horizon and thus the dawn of that day, May 18th was soon to begin.

But at 4:42 a.m it was still dark. It was very early morning, just prior to dawn. Therefore the sun and Mercury, which always travels near to the sun, were in the 2nd house which is the next house just under the eastern horizon. It is the next house to rise. It takes roughly two hours for each sign of the 12 to pass by the eastern horizon. Thus, roughly within every 24 hour period, the 12 signs of the zodiac each take a 2 hour turn rising on the eastern horizon. And as each one rises, its opposite across the zodiac is setting on the western horizon. So at the time of the person's birth, there were no planets in the 3rd or 4th houses underneath the earth, but the shadow node of the moon known as Rahu was in the 5th house which is just under and towards the west a little, there was nothing in the 6th, 7th (western horizon) or 8th. Then we come to the 9th house which if we look towards the east is just above our heads and to the back a little bit. The 9th house rules religion in Vedic Astrology. It is interesting to note that many religions honor this angle through various customs. For example, Jewish men wear a small hat on that part of their head. Many Hindu men shave every part of their head except that part which they let grow into a long pony tail known as a sheeka. It is also taught in the Vedas that that crown of the portion of the head which faces the 9th house is where certain types of yogis of the past used to burst through at the time of their death and would actually leave their body through that spot which is known as the Brahma Rundrum. It is also interesting to note that the hair often curls in a swirling pattern on that part of the head as if the universal swirling pattern enters us at that point.

The Personalities Behind The Planets

The basic paradigm of Jyotish is that we are children of God and we are being lovingly and carefully carried through a very large set of lessons which takes a number of lifetimes to accomplish. The lessons begin in lower forms of life and end in higher stages of human development. At a certain point when we have learned the lessons of this material creation, we are lifted to spiritual worlds beyond the material creation. While in human life in this material creation, we are sometimes promoted to heavenly planets. Sometimes we are demoted to lower planets than earth, while at other times we reside on earth, which is in the middle of the range of possibilities.While we are here, we are controlled by our loving older brothers and sisters, also known as the demigods. The demigods, although mortal, live much longer than we do. They have material bodies, but we cannot see them as they live on higher material planets. Their bodies are more closely related to a thought than our earthen bodies. Therefore, it is appropriate to say that the bodies and lives of the demigods are more subtle than our own.

Just as we control and take care of our pets, similarly, the demigods control and take care of us. The ant living in our garden may not know that we control the garden because we are so large and completely not present in their little world. Nevertheless, their ignorance of us does not make us less real, or less potent and capable. Indeed, with a single stroke of our spray bottle, we can wipe out an entire colony of ants who never knew it was us who did this to them. Similarly, the demigods can with a single stroke or thought annihilate an entire continent on our teeny dust ball in space known as earth. The planets which revolve within our solar system are physical external representations of small parts of the personalities of certain demigods. For example, Saturn is an external representation of part of the personality known as Shanaischarya. Similarly, Venus is an external representation of part of the potency of Shukracharya. Another way to understand the planets' relationships with ourselves is to see that the guards in a prison did not put the prisoners in a prison, but once the prisoners are in the prison, it is the duty of the guards to keep them in the prison and administer various punishments and disciplinary actions, but also to protect the prisoners from each other, to feed them and provide for them. This is exactly like our position. We live in Durga Dham, which means we live in the prison. The demigods simultaneously provide for us and punish us, but it is not them who are doing it to us. They are only carrying out the will and order and need of the greater whole which they are also a part of. They are simply above us, but they also have their superiors. Amongst the demigods, they have their own hierarchy, or rank and order, and ultimately they are all within the material creation except for Lord Brahma who is right on the edge. Sadashiva is beyond the material creation, but barely. Lord Vishnu's planets alone are securely above and beyond all material consideration and the highest of those is Krishna Loka or Gokula Vrindavana, the personal planet of the most personal and sweet form of the Lord, Krishna. So Vedic astrology is the science of the effects of the planets on all things on our world. Lord Brahma has taught that although what we see is his material creation and in a way an illusory cover to keep us in ignorance. Still by studying the movements of the heavenly bodies, we can know the particular way in which the demigods have cast their will and effects upon a person. The positions of the various planets at the time of a person or thing dictate and control and reflect the way in which the demigods will control and manipulate the life of that person or thing. All things, whether they be humans or just thoughts, are born and die within the great cycles within this universe. We are all creations of the great cycles and systems functioning within this universe. We are not separate. Vedic astrology is the science of reading the imprint of the universe upon the human or thing at the time of their birth and from that chart or imprint knowing and foretelling the nature and life events destined to be enjoyed or suffered by that person or thing. When we study the birth chart of a human, we are studying their life. When we study the birth chart of a question, we are studying the outcome and answer. When we study the birth chart of a material item such as a vehicle, the christening of a house or boat for example, we are studying the lives of those things. Vedic astrology can apply to questions, things, people, pets, etc. All things within this universe are subject to the controls of the Gods, and therefore, astrology applies to all things

Vedic Astrology - An Indian Viewpoint

Vedic astrology also has a great number of techniques for studying the charts once they are cast, which give Vedic a predictive edge. For example, the 'dashas' or 'planetary ruling periods' system which is a part of the Vedic system give Vedic astrologers a tool for quite accurately predicting the trends, changes and events in your life with good accuracy regarding dating when things will take place. Therefore, Vedic astrologers are less limited to talking about your general overall self and can get more deeply into what's going to happen in your life.

These two things are the primary, immediate things you should know about Vedic Astrology.


1) Signs
2) Nakshatras

Sign	Sanskrit Term	Type	Sex
Aries	Ram	Fire	M
Taurus	Bull	Earth	F
Gemini	Couple	Air	M
Cancer	Crab	Water	F
Leo	Lion	Fire	M
Virgo	Virgin	Earth	F
Libra	Balance	Air	M
Scorpio	Scorpion	Water	F
Sagittarius	Bow	Fire	M
Capricorn	Horn	Earth	F
Aquarius	Pot or Jug	Air	M
Pisces	Fishes	Water	F

As you can see, the signs are the same ones used in Western Astrology. However, as you go on, you will see that the understanding of what the signs do, and the demigods behind them, who control them, vary and are greatly augmented in Vedic astrology.

Vedic And Western Astrology

Vedic astrology differs from Western or Tropical astrology mainly in that it uses the fixed zodiac as opposed to the moving zodiac. Because of the gradual tilting of the earth in space on its axis, the zodiac, if you calculate it from the Sun's relationship to the Earth, appears to be moving at the rate of a little less than l/60th of a degree per year. Currently, the relative or movable zodiac is off or out of alignment with the fixed or real star-based zodiac by roughly 23 degrees, which is almost one whole sign of the zodiac. So, first and foremost you should know that Vedic astrology sticks with that original, star-based zodiac and thus another term to describe Vedic astrology is that it is 'sidereal astrology', which simply means that the real zodiac is used to locate which signs the planets are currently located in.

The signs the planets are in is one important part of astrology. Because the two systems are skewed from each other by nearly one whole sign, most people's 'Sun Sign', is usually one sign back when the chart is refigured using Vedic astrology.

So, the first surprise using Vedic astrology is that you are no longer the Sun Sign you always thought you were. This happens with many charts. However, if you were born in the last 5 days or so of the Western Sign month, then you will probably still be that sign in Vedic since the difference is 23 degrees currently, and signs are 30 degrees long in space (12 signs times 30 degrees each a 360 degree circle surrounding the Earth).

Vedic Astrology : An Introduction

"Astrology is based on astronomy to a great tent; in that, astrologers need to know the correct positions of the planets at any given time, well as the correct positions of the zodiacal fixed star signs in relation to any place on earth at any given time. Once the correct positions of the signs and planets are known, the astrologer then constructs charts representing these positions, and using the astrological science, studies the birth charts and can make quite a wide range of conclusions about the moment the chart was cast for.


Charts are cast based on an exact moment at an exact place on Earth. Therefore, the moment you were born and the place you were born has a chart, or can have a chart, and that is called your 'birth chart' or 'natal chart'. By reading the chart of the heavens for the time and place of your birth, we can know much about you. That is the claim of astrology. It can be used for other things such as the chart of a question asked (called 'Prasna' astrology) or for planning when to do some certain action (called 'Muhurtha' or 'Electional' astrology). Primarily, astrology is used to understand ourselves, or our karma for this life.