Category Archives: 8th house

What Grahas Get One Involved in Astrology?

Shukra (Venus). Guru of the Asuras.
Shukra (Venus). Guru of the Asuras.

I am often asked what planets get one involved in being an Astrologer themselves.  It is an understandable question since most people studying astrology would naturally want to see if it that is indicated in their own horoscopes.  When I was reading, for the longest time there was a gap in my understanding when it came to this question.  Most of the books available state that Mercury is important for being an astrologer and that you have to have a good Mercury to do astrology and to convey what is shown in the chart to the individual.  But there must be more to it than that, since a good Mercury can also make one many other things, like a lawyer, a bookkeeper, or an artisan for example. What else is involved?

First, I want to define an Astrologer not as one who necessarily makes a living off of it, or is super amazing at it, or famous, or whatever, but as one who has devoted a great portion/majority of their life and time to the study and practice of Astrology.  A person could be a nurse by trade and in the sense of what pays the bills, but in another sense, they are an Astrologer if they are constantly contemplating astrology all day at the hospital while working, and get home and study and practice it at night.  This should be clear first.

And that is the thing with Astrology, it is a very thoughtful craft.  So while I do agree that Mercury is very helpful and important for a person to be able to convey the chart to an individual, there is more involved than that. Mercury represents skills and our aptitude overall. In this manner, a great Mercury can really make one great at most things. So naturally that can carry over to studying Jyotish, and Mercury loves to study.  But there must be some desire to study the heavens, to contemplate, to find symbolic meaning in life, to be philosophical and so forth. Mercury alone is not really the planet that is going to always do that. Mercury is a vaishya, the Merchant mentality (There are 4 castes or mentalities in human nature according to Vedic philosophy, each one offering unique skills and abilities). To really be a counselor, an advisor, a guide that has the best interest of the individual at heart, one must have other factors going on to indicate that. Mercury alone is a businessman and sometimes even a trickster, it just depends. I don’t know about you, but I don’t wanna be tricked when I go to get advice.

So the main planets you really need to see involved in a person’s makeup are the philosophical and contemplative planets, the Brahmin mentality.  Those planets are Venus and Jupiter. They are the Brahmins of the zodiac, which means most devoted to knowledge and spirituality, to learning, educating, etc.  These planets suggest a desire for refinement in life as well. Ketu is also involved in making one an Astrologer.  So when it comes down to it, having these three planets involved heavily in your chart, and connecting to the self-factors such as Atmakaraka, lagnesh, swamsha, and pada, you often find these people to be involved in Astrology at some point in their life. (Look for these planets in the svamsa or 10th from it, see my previous posts for more info on the svamsa).

Brihaspati (Jupiter) Guru to the Devas.
Brihaspati (Jupiter) Guru to the Devas.

Then you often find Mercury connecting to these planets in some way, via conjunction or rasi aspect, or ruling them, especially if they are going to make a business out of it. Mercury rules business as well as curiousity, so they may just talk about it a lot if the business isnt indicated by other factors in the chart.  This you will really find happening a lot! Jupiter, Venus, or Ketu in the lagna, or 10th, or with the Lagna lord is very, very common.

Now you have the ingredients as far as planets go.  But to be more precise, we need to see the 8th house connected to Ketu to make one an Astrologer, at least if they are going to spend a large portion of life involved in it.  One example I can think of is the Lord of Ketu being in the 8th, another is Ketu simply being in the 8th, another is with the 8th Lord and Ketu rasi aspecting each other, and still one more example I can think of has the 8th lord conjunct ketu.

If all these factors come together you will often see an Astrologer or someone who is involved somehow in dealing with the Soul’s journey and its many lives. There is more to determining any career than this but now you have the basic ingredients to find if one is going to be an Astrologer from the birth chart.

Oh and one more thing, a predictive Astrologer is often shown more by Venus. A psychological astrologer or more of a spiritual advisor type of astrologer can be shown by Jupiter. Venus is the Guru to the Asuras, the worldly forces of materialization and the senses. Naturally, Venusians take after this quality and tend to give great guidance to people for worldly matters.  Jupiter is the Guru to the Devas, the heavenly forces of consciousness, ideas, and inner life. Therefore, Jupiterian Astrologers will perhaps not be as inclined to predict but will give great spiritual counsel about where you are and the type of person you are, your dharma.  The best Astrologers tend to have both planets involved so they can do both of course.  But this is worth noting as there are so many types of astrologers and there are many uses for this craft.  So go to a venusian astrologer if you need help with getting a new car. Go to a jupiterian astrologer to learn a great mantra to meditate upon. Or hopefully, with the grace of God, you will find one who can do both 😉

 

Financial Astrology

J. P. Morgan had a Jupiter-Mars conjunction in his chart, one of the other classic yogas for wealth and prosperity.
J. P. Morgan had a Jupiter-Mars conjunction in his chart, one of the other classic yogas for wealth and prosperity. (I think the exclamation mark was embelished, most quotes dont have that. But I keep this because it shows his intimidating presence which can also be noticeable when a Jupiter-Mars conjunction occurs, especially in Leo, like he had it.)

Astrology can reveal an amazing amount of detail about our financial karma. It can tell us so much that it actually was very confusing to me for a long time, trying to sort it all out….That is an ongoing process, of course, but here are some basic principles that I have found to work very well in helping one to see money in the chart. There is so much more that could be said here but for brevity’s sake and without wanting to create further confusion, this should be a good lesson or review.

{{{NOTE:::: Do not expect to be able to predict wealth in a chart without years and years of serious and devoted research. This post is for the devoted student of astrology, not for someone who is trying to quickly find a secret way to get money from just a few hours of studying of their own chart. That is what we call “barking up the wrong tree”.  That approach usually creates more bad karma. It would save that person much time and money to just hire a professional to assist them with that, just like anything else we are not very experienced with…even more so with a thing that is very difficult to do, or not even believed to be possible, depending on who you ask.}}}

Planets: When it comes to planets, the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus are very important for wealth. I would say the Moon is most important. All planets can give wealth if they are ruling one of the houses mentioned below, however. The Moon represents our ability to have prosperity flow through our lives and that is why it is the most important. When it comes to land, which is also a source of wealth, Mars is the key planet. Mars rules property, and Ketu actually is a secondary factor that can indicate property as well. (Ketu means “flag” in Sanskrit, symbolizing conquered territory, so we can easily see the connection. Mars likewise rules forts and strongholds as well.)

Another useful point is that if cruel planets are occupying the angles, one is more likely to earn through property or working the earth in some way. If gentle planets occupy them, one tends to make money more through goods and services.

Yogas: You have to check for wealth yogas always. There are a lot of lunar yogas that grant prosperity to a person even if other parts of the chart are denying it. If overlooked, much of the chart will not make sense compared to the real life experience of the person. Some of these yogas are Chandra yoga, Gaja Kesari Yoga, Anapha, Sunapha, Durudhara, Adhi yoga, etc.

Vargas: The important vargas are the Rasi, the Hora, the Chaturthamsha, the Khavedamsa, and the Shastiamsa, in my experience.

HOUSES:

The 2nd house: This is the house of wealth, and deals with the immediate resources one has at their disposal. It deals with liquid wealth and cash that we use to provide for ourselves and those we are responsible for.

4th house: This is the house of deposits and fortune. So this is when you have wealth and do not immediately need to spend it on responsibilities and so can deposit it in the bank, or invest it into something more concrete and fixed. This is also the house of property, vehicles, orchards and other fixed assets.

5th house: The 5th is the house of speculation and all kinds of speculative investments. Its the house of predicting the future. As 2nd from the 4th, it shows the growth, and the wealth that comes out of what one just deposited at the 4th house. Hence this is the house of investment gains. This is a major house for playing the stock market or things like that.

6th house: This is the house of service, so it tends to make one have to do more tedious work, more servant like, manual labor type of work. This is the house of debts and obstacles, the opposite of a good win win trade for both parties.

7th house: This is the actual house of business and trade, which is not well known. The seventh house is the buyer if you are trying to sell, or the seller if you are trying to buy.

8th house: Not as important but is the 2nd from the 7th house (others) and so represents other people’s resources and cash. This house is still worthwhile to consider but has more to do with other people’s money than your own. It also can give inheritances, and lottery winnings or surprise windfalls of cash when activated in positive ways.

11th house: This is the house of your actual paycheck. Your income, your gains. So when you get paid your 11th house is activated. Notice that the 2nd house of wealth is the 4th from the 11th. As said above, the 4th rules “deposits”.  So the 2nd house is where you deposit or cash your paycheck at the bank and deposit it into your bank account. Then when you pay your bills and get your groceries, what is left over you may decide to invest or transfer to a savings account, or buy a new bike. That would be your 4th house getting activated, causing you to get a fixed asset or deposit the money for something of that sort later on.

12th house: This is the house of expenses of all kinds. Planets in the 12th cause us to spend more money or time on a thing.

With this we can hopefully see that it is not just one area of the chart that shows wealth potential. In my experience, it is again reading and analyzing the entire chart as a whole that must be done before we start to see a picture of what the financial situation will be like.