The One where Graf fails to appear

Warning!: Please don't read this specific post if you get easily bored with religious literature or astro babble.

Although I wanted to post Graf's chart in my second post, I decided against it as my readers are strangers to a few terms that would routinely appear on this blog. So, for their benefit, I will post a few basics of astrology. The intention is not to make a reader an expert but just to make him/her understand a few basics to follow the posts better. More experienced astrologers might feel offended or horrified by the descriptions given below. Please bear with me.

In vedic Astrology, every chart is divided into 12 houses which fit well into the 12 signs of the Zodiac. These 12 houses represent 12 key areas of an entity's life (I call it an entity because it could be applied to any entity, nation, person, company etc).

The 12 signs are further divided into 360 degrees- 27 constellations - or what we call as Nakshatras, with each Nakshatra - divided into 4 equal parts or padams (quarters), making for a total of 108 Nakshatra padams. This gives a distribution of 30-degrees and 9 padams per sign.

The houses are:
1st house: Self, Appearance, character, temperament, the truth about oneself.
2nd House: Family, Wealth, Death
3rd House: Younger Siblings, Courage, Communication, Change of residence
4th House: Mother, Native Place, Residence, Fixed assets, Primary Education
5th House: Progeny, Intelligence, Investments
6th House: Enemies, Servants, Pets, Litigations, Diseases, Service (job)
7th House: Partnerships (Business, Marriage, relationships, Friends)
8th House: Longevity, Secrets, Health, Husband/Wife's Family
9th House: Father, Luck, Fortune, Religion, Dharma, Foreign Travel
10th House: Profession, Karma, Duty
11th House: Professional Gains, Elder Siblings
12th House: Sleep, losses, Expenses, Foreign Residence, Spirituality

Of all these Houses, 1st House is called the Lagna or the Ascendant. It is that Zodiac sign which is rising in the eastern horizon at time of birth. To be more precise, itis identified with that specific Constellation that is rising in the eastern horizon at the time of your birth. In any horoscope, it can be identified by the placement of the letters AS (short for Ascendant). Like wise, every planet appears to occupy a specific constellation padam at the time of your birth as seen from the place of your birth. This formation will decide the placement of the 9 planets in 12 houses/ signs/ Nakshatra Padams.

Goes without saying that the specific Zodiac sign that becomes the Lagna will decide the 11 remaining houses- so counting clockwise from the ascendant sign, you fix the 12 houses in 12signs.

Each Zodiac sign is lorded by one of the 7 planets (grahas) Sun, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury and Saturn and 2 Shadow Planets (chaaya grahas) Rahu(Serpent Head) and Ketu (Serpent Tail).

The Signs are:
Aries - Mesha - Lorded by Mars AKA Mangal/Kuja
Taurus - Vrishabh - Lorded by Venus AKA - Shukra
Gemini - Mithun - Lorded by Mercury AKA - Budha
Cancer - Karkataka - Lorded by Moon AKA - Chandra
Leo - Simha - Sun AKA - Ravi/Surya
Virgo - Kanya - Mercury - Budha
Libra - Thula - Venus - Shukra
Scorpio - Vrischik - Co-Lorded by Mars and Ketu
Sagittarius - Dhanu - Lorded by Jupiter - AKA - Guru/Brihaspati
Capricorn - Makar - Lorded by Saturn - AKA - Shani
Aquarius - Kumbh - Co-Lorded by Saturn and Rahu
Pisces - Meena - Lorded by Jupiter

You notice that the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn lord 2 signs each.

Naturally, this sign ownership translates into ownership of the houses attached to specific zodiac signs as per the entity's horoscope. These planets govern results of those specific areas in a person's life as per their house lordship. Additionally, planets give the results of the house they are located in. They are also capable of tempering the results of the house/planets they cast their aspects(drishiti) on.

Aspects are a very simple concept of astrology:
Every Planet, except Ketu, casts its full 100% aspect on the house/sign exactly opposite to it (count 7 houses clockwise starting with house where the planet is located).

Mars additionally aspects 4th and 8th houses from its location.
Saturn additionally aspects 3rd and 10th houses from its location.
Jupiter additionally aspects 5th and 9th houses from its location.
Rahu additionally aspects 2nd, 5th and 9th houses from its location.

Rahu/Ketu/Sun/Mars and Saturn are natural Malefics. The aspect of a natural malefic always gives bad results to house or planet aspected.
Additionally a waning Moon and a mercury conjunct Naural Malefics are also malefic.
Jupiter and Venus are Natural Benefics: Their aspects are always good for the results of the planets/houses aspected.
Additionally, a waxing moon and a mercury conjunct natural benefics are also benefic in nature.


Houses 1 4, 7 10 are called Quadrants or Kendras and are Vishnu Sthana's of a horoscope. These are the houses that Sustain us like Lord Vishnu sustains this world.

Houses 1, 5 and 9 are called the Trikonas or the Trines are called Lakshmi sthanas. Needless to say, these are very important to assess a person's bhagya/fortune/luck, dharma etc.

Houses 1,4,5,7,9 and 10 are the best houses in a horoscope for any planet to be happily placed and give good results.

Houses 6 8 and 12 are called the dusthanas or the Bad houses. Planets placed in these houses are generally not happy and are prone to give bad results.

Houses 3 and 11 are upachayas along with 6 and 10 and are good houses as they show gradual progress of an individual. Malefic planets like Rahu/Ketu/Mars/Saturn give very good results here.

House 2 is a mixed bag. This is a death inflicting house as well as the giver of wealth and family happiness. Benefic Planets like Jupiter, Venus, a Waxing Moon and a clear Mercury are good here.

Every Planet has natural affinity for certain zodiac signs. It might perform exceedingly well or bad as per this affinity. This is described in terms of a planet's Exaltation, Own, Mooltrikon, Friendly, Enemy and Debilitation signs. A planets results are best when its exalted and worst when it is debilitated. The degree of the beneficence of the results gradually reduces from Exaltation to debilitation.

A small table below identifies this relationship.

Based on the above description, you could try and evaluate Lord Rama's chart I have posted yesterday.

Sorry! I did not mean for this to be such a lengthy post. But wanted to do this earlier so I can concentrate on the funnier stuff later.

Happy reading!