Elementary Astrology

The Zodiac is a belt of heavens extending on both sides of the ecliptic. It encircles the space through
which the planets travel in their orbits.

Vedic Astrology employs side-real zodiac, which is different from the tropi- cal zodiac used in West- ern Astrology. While the tropical (Western) As-trology uses the vernal equinox (the Sun's posi-tion at the beginning of spring) as the starting point for the measure-ments along the zodiac, the sidereal (Vedic)
Astrology uses fixed stars to identify differ-ent segments along the zodiac.

The starting points of  the sidereal and tropical zodiacs coincide once every 25,800 years. After that the starting points separate from each other by an approximate 1degree of an arc per each 72 years. The difference between the longitude of the starting points of the sidereal and tropical zodiacs at any given time is called Ayanamsha
.
Due to the existing controversy about the year in which the two starting points coincided last, there are several
ayanamshas used by different schools of Vedic astrologers. Some of them are Lahiri, Krishnamurti, Raman,
and Fa-gan ayanamshas.Lahiri is the most widely used Ayanamsha which is based on the last coincidence point taking place in the year 285 A.D.Lahiri Ayanamsha for the year of your birth is 23:36:47 degrees. If you want to convert your sidereal (Vedic) plane-tary positions into tropical (Western), you can do so by adding this ayanamsha to the degrees of the planets in your Vedic chart. To arrive at the sidereal positions by converting the tropical ones, you will need to subtract the ayanam-sha from the tropical positions.
Vedic Astrology Basic

The Sanskrit name of Vedic Astrology is Jyotish. Jyotish means light, and is called the eye of the Vedas, as its pur-pose is to shed light on our life, on our self understanding, and to help us in the path to enlightenment.
There are three main branches within Vedic Astrology, Hora, Ganita and Samhita
.
The Samhita branch deals with very broad aspects of understanding ourselves. It uses omens and observations from the environment to draw conclusions. Analysis of dreams, sudden sounds, appearance of animals, movement of the planets, twitching of muscles etc are examples. A well known text that describes all that is the Brihat Samhita. The Ganita branch deals with the pure mathematics of the Astronomical basis of astrology. It describes in great de- tail how to calculate the position of the planets and many other calculations that Vedic Astrology is based on. One famous work in the Ganita branch is the Surya Siddhanta. The Hora branch deals with the actual interpretations and predictions of the horoscope.Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra is all about that. Maharishi Parashara makes it a point that the student of Jyotish "are good and peacefully disposed, who honor the preceptors and elders, who speak only truth, and are God-fearing". This knowledge is meant to be used for the good of mankind, and you, the students of Jyotish, are responsible for applying it in a pure and
evolutionary way.

How can astrology work?

The positions of the planets represent the laws of nature at the time of birth. Just like a negative takes on the quality of the surrounding light at the exposure, so does a newborn entity take on the quality of the cosmic light at the time of birth. The relationships of the planets with the other elements in the chart (i.e. the houses and signs) form a so-phisticated mathematical model which mirrors life to an amazing level of depth and completeness.Out of the many luminous bodies in the sky, there are ones that are fixed and ones that move. The background of the fixed stars is called the zodiac and is divided in separate, distinct spaces, called nakshatras. The heavenly bodies that move are called Grahas (for the lack of a better word translated as "Planets"). For predictive purposes Jyotish looks at the positions of the planets in relation to the stars in the Zodiac at the time of one's birth. These positions reveal how the universe was functioning at that instance. In a way, planets are like 9 special measuring points from which the entire subtle state of natural law can be measured. At the time of birth, when the body enters the world, this state of the universe gets projected into the structure of the life of an individual.

Therefore, the conditions of these nine measuring points, the nine planets, define the entire life span of events and circumstances for an individual.

The 9 Grahas (The Naba Graha)

We just mentioned nine planets, even though not all of them are actual planets. Only five of them are planets, one is a star, one is a moon, and the remaining two are special mathematical points. Everyone is familiar with the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The other two elements included into the group are Rahu and Ketu,known as the North and South Lunar nodes. Rahu and Ketu do not have physical substance, they are two mathemati-cal points that mark the point of intersection of the plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth with the ecliptic plane. Lunar or solar eclipses occur when the Sun and the Moon are close to one of the nodes. From now on, we shall refer to this group of "planets" with a proper San-
skrit term Grahas. Each graha (planet) represents certain facets of human life. Traditional Vedic as-
trology does not consider the influences of Neptune,Uranus, and Pluto. Here are the names of the grahas
in Sanskrit:


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SUN is SURYA
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MOON is CHANDRA
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MARS is MANGALA
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MERCURY is BUDHA
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JUPITER is GURU
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VENUS is SHUKRA
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SATURN is SHANI
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The NORTH NODE is RAHU
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THE SOUTH NODE is KETU

Grahas have primary and secondary significations. Here is the list of the primary graha significations assigned by the sage Parashara (the author of Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra):
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SURYA (Sun) signifies the soul.
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CHANDRA (Moon) signifies the mind.
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MANGALA (Mars) signifies energy.
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BUDHA (Mercury) signifies speech.
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GURU (Jupiter) signifies knowledge.
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SHUKRA (Venus) signifies reproduction.
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SHANI (Saturn) signifies grief.


The 27 Nakshatras

The zodiac is divided into 27 Nakshatras, each of identical size. The first one is called Ashwini, and the others follow from there. The very same zodiac is also divided in a different way: into 12 Rashis (zodiacal signs). Out of the 12 signs, the one that is rising in the East at the time of birth is of particular importance. It is called Lagna (Ascendant) and it is used as the main point of reference in analyzing the chart. The Nakshatra rising in the East is also impor-tant.

THE 12 RASHIS(SIGNS)

The grahas (planets) are constantly moving through the Zodiac. The circle of the Zodiac is divided into 12 equal seg-ments called constellations or rashis (signs). Each rashi (sign) occupies 30 degrees of the celestial space. Each of the rashis (signs) has a unique set of attributes that affect any graha (planet) traveling through that sign. The signs are environments that affect the way a planet feels and behaves. Here are the 12 rashis (signs) listed in their natural or-der:Rashi rulerships

Every rashi (sign) has its particular planetary ruler. The Sun and the Moon rule over one sign each, while the rest of  the grahas hold rulership over two signs. Traditionally, Rahu and Ketu are considered not to hold rulership over any signs, although, some astrologers consider Rahu and Ketu to co-rule the signs of Aquarius and Scorpio respectively.The sign rulerships are a permanent value.
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ARIES (Mesha) is ruled by Mars.
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TAURUS (Vrishabha) is ruled by Venus.
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GEMINI (Mithuna) is ruled by Mercury.
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CANCER (Karka) is ruled by the Moon.
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LEO (Simha) is ruled by the Sun.
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VIRGO (Kanya) is ruled by Mercury.
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LIBRA (Tula) is ruled by Venus.
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SCORPIO (Vrishika) is ruled by Mars.
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SAGITTARIUS (Dhanu) is ruled by Jupiter.
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CAPRICORN (Makara) is ruled by Saturn.
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AQUARIUS (Kumbha) is ruled by Saturn.
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PISCES (Meena) is ruled by Jupiter.


The 12 Bhavas

The Zodiac is divided in one more way. Relative to the position of the Earth, the zodiac is divided into 12 bhavas (houses). Just as the proper motion of planets is reflected by their degree positions in rashis
(signs), the diurnal (illusionary, relative motion of the planets as per-ceived from the Earth) motion of the planets is shown by their placement in astrological houses. The houses represent the various areas of life. The planets and signs that occupy the corresponding bhavas (houses) will affect those areas of life. The twelve bhavas (houses) represent the totality of the existence as experienced by a human being. Here are the main significations of each house:
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The First House represents the Self.

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The Second House represents your financial assets.

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The Third House represents courage.

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The Fourth House represents happiness.

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The Fifth House represents your children.

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The Sixth House represents your enemies.

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The Seventh House represents your spouse.

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The Eighth House represents your vulnerable points.

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The Ninth House represents your fortune.

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The Tenth House represents your career.

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The Eleventh House represents your income.

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The Twelfth House represents the end of everything.

So far, we have briefly covered the general principles of the three main components of Jyotish: the Grahas (Planets),the Rashis (signs), and the Bhavas (Houses). The positions of the planets in the signs and houses are depicted in what is called the Horoscope. Evaluation and understanding of the interactive influ-ences of these three main elements constitutes the interpretation of the vedic horoscope.