The Study of Jyotisha · Chapter 11 of 54 · Part Two · The building blocks

#Aspects

#Planets that look

A graha does not act only on the house it occupies. It also looks at other parts of the chart, and what it looks at, it influences. This looking is called drishti, "sight", and in English aspect. A benefic's gaze protects and helps; a malefic's gaze presses and tests. Aspects are how the parts of a chart talk to each other. Without them a chart would be twelve separate boxes.

The rule of aspects in Indian astrology is different from the Western one. In Western astrology, aspects are angles between two planets — 60°, 90°, 120°, 180° — and they work both ways. In Jyotisha, a graha aspects houses (and whatever is in them) counted from itself, and the aspect goes from the planet to the house. Two planets may aspect each other, but often one aspects the other without being aspected back.

#Varahamihira's rule

Varahamihira states the whole rule in one verse (Brihat Jataka II.13):

All the planets aspect the 3rd and 10th houses from themselves with a quarter sight; the 5th and 9th with a half sight; the 4th and 8th with three-quarters of a sight; and the 7th with a full sight. But Saturn aspects the 3rd and 10th with a full sight, Jupiter the 5th and 9th, and Mars the 4th and 8th.

Put as a table, counting the planet's own house as the 1st:

Notice what is not in the table: the 2nd, 6th, 11th and 12th houses from a planet, and its own house. A planet never aspects these at all.

#The special aspects

The extra full aspects of the three outer planets are among the most used rules in Jyotisha:

• Mars aspects fully the 4th, 7th and 8th houses from itself.
• Jupiter aspects fully the 5th, 7th and 9th houses from itself.
• Saturn aspects fully the 3rd, 7th and 10th houses from itself.

Every other graha — the Sun, the Moon, Mercury and Venus — aspects fully only the 7th.

A way to remember them: Jupiter, the teacher, looks at the trines (5th and 9th), the houses of wisdom and fortune. Mars, the warrior, looks at the 4th and 8th, the houses squared to it, as a soldier watches his flanks. Saturn, the servant who works, looks at the 3rd and 10th, the houses of effort and work.

The later Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra gives the same rule with the same weights (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 26.2–5, in the common numbering).

#Full aspects only: a modern habit

Many astrologers today count only the full aspects — the 7th for everyone, plus the special aspects of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — and ignore the quarter, half and three-quarter aspects. This makes charts quicker to read, and the full aspects are certainly the strongest. But it is a simplification. The classical rule has the partial aspects, and they are used in the exact measure of aspect strength (below) and in the calculation of planetary strength (Chapter 14). When this course says "aspects" without qualification, it means the full ones; when the partial ones matter, it says so.

#Measuring aspects: by sign or by degree?

There are two ways to apply Varahamihira's rule.

By sign (whole-sign aspects). Count signs: a planet anywhere in Aries aspects the whole of Libra (its 7th), and, if it is Mars, the whole of Cancer (its 4th) and Scorpio (its 8th). This is how most Indian astrologers read aspects today, and it fits the whole-sign houses this course uses.

By degree. Chidambaram Aiyar explains in his note to Brihat Jataka II.13 that the aspects are really aimed at points. From a planet at a given degree, mark points every 30° round the zodiac. The aspect falls on the point 60° away (the "3rd"), 90° away (the "4th"), 120° (the "5th"), 180° (the "7th"), 210° (the "8th"), 240° (the "9th") and 270° (the "10th"), and each aspect extends 15° either side of its point. So a planet at 10° Aries aspects with full sight the zone from 25° Virgo to 25° Libra, not exactly the sign Libra.

The two methods usually agree. They differ when a planet is near the beginning or end of a sign. Most of the time, use signs; for exact work, the later texts give a formula by degree.

#The exact strength of an aspect

The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra turns the graded aspects into a smooth scale measured in virupas — sixtieths of a full aspect — depending on the exact angle d from the aspecting planet to the aspected point, counted forward in the zodiac (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 26.6–8, in the common numbering):

Check this against Varahamihira's grades: at d = 60° (the "3rd") the value is 15, a quarter of 60; at 90° (the "4th") it is 45, three-quarters; at 120° (the "5th") it is 30, a half; at 180° (the "7th") it is 60, full; at 210° (the "8th") 45; at 240° (the "9th") 30; at 270° (the "10th") 15. The formula is simply a smooth curve through the old grades.

For Mars, Jupiter and Saturn the text adds extra virupas on their special aspects, so that those reach a full 60. (The verses giving the exact additions are damaged in the copies this course could check; the usual practice adds 15 virupas to Mars's 4th and 8th, 30 to Jupiter's 5th and 9th, and 45 to Saturn's 3rd and 10th, near their exact points.) You will need this scale only for the full calculation of planetary strength in Chapter 14.

Example. The Moon is at 18°55′ Taurus (48°55′). How strongly does Saturn at 26°09′ Sagittarius (266°09′) aspect it? Counting forward from Saturn to the Moon: 48°55′ − 266°09′ + 360° = 142°46′. This lies between 120° and 150°, so the strength is 150 − 142°46′ = 7°14′ → about 7 virupas out of 60: a very weak aspect. (By signs, Taurus is the 6th sign from Sagittarius, which Saturn does not aspect at all. The two methods agree that there is little or nothing here.)

#Rahu and Ketu

The Brihat Jataka gives Rahu and Ketu no aspects. Later astrologers adopted various conventions:

• some give them only the 7th-house aspect, like the Sun and Moon;
• some give them full aspects on the 5th, 7th and 9th houses, like Jupiter;
• some count their aspects backward, since the nodes move backward.

There is no classical agreement. This course does not use node aspects unless it states which convention it is using.

#The direction of an aspect

Remember that an aspect goes one way. Some examples:

• Two planets opposite each other (one in the 7th sign from the other) always aspect each other fully, because every planet aspects its 7th.
• Mars in Aries aspects Cancer (its 4th). A planet in Cancer looks back at Aries as its 10th house. If that planet is Saturn, it aspects Aries fully too (Saturn's 10th); if it is anything else, it gives only a quarter aspect back. So "Mars aspects Saturn and Saturn aspects Mars" is true here — but "Mars aspects Jupiter in Cancer" does not mean Jupiter aspects Mars fully in return.
• Jupiter in Gemini aspects Libra (its 5th) fully. A planet in Libra sees Gemini as its 9th — full only if it is Jupiter.

#Four kinds of connection

Two grahas can be connected (sambandha, "relationship") in four ways, and the later texts treat all four as bringing their significations together:

1. Conjunction (yuti): both in the same sign. The closer in degree, the stronger.
2. Mutual aspect: each aspects the other — for example, any two planets in opposite signs.
3. Exchange of signs (parivartana): each is in the other's sign — for example, Mars in Taurus and Venus in Aries. This is considered the strongest connection of all, and is the basis of many yogas (Chapter 17).
4. One-way aspect: one planet aspects the other (or the other's sign) without being aspected back. This is the weakest of the four.

When you read that "the lord of the 9th is connected with the lord of the 10th", it means one of these four. Chapter 17 shows why such connections are so important.

#What an aspect does

An aspect brings the nature of the aspecting graha to the house or planet it looks at:

• Benefic aspects (Jupiter, Venus, a well-placed Mercury, a strong Moon) protect, support and increase the good things of the house. Jupiter's aspect, in particular, is valued so highly that the tradition says it can soften or cancel many difficulties.
• Malefic aspects (Saturn, Mars, the Sun, and in later texts Rahu and Ketu) bring pressure, delay, conflict or heat. They can harm the gentle matters of a house — but they also give strength and drive, and in the houses of effort (3rd, 6th, 10th, 11th) they can be useful.
• An aspect from a house lord to its own house protects that house, almost as if the lord were present.

Varahamihira devotes a whole chapter to the effects of each planet aspecting the Moon in each sign (Brihat Jataka XIX). It shows how much the result depends on the sign. For example, a Moon in Aries aspected by Mercury makes a person learned; a Moon in Taurus aspected by Jupiter makes a person respected; a Moon in Leo aspected by Mercury makes an astrologer (Brihat Jataka XIX.1–2). Read such lists for their logic: Mercury's aspect brings learning and speech, Jupiter's brings respect, the Sun's often brings the hardships of pride or poverty, and so on.

#The example chart

Here are the full aspects in the example chart of Chapter 6 (Libra lagna), by sign:

Some things to notice:

• Mars aspects the lagna (Libra) from the 7th house, and also the 10th house with its group of four grahas. Its energy reaches both the self and the house of work.
• The 4th house (Capricorn) receives three aspects — from the Sun, Jupiter and Venus — onto Rahu there. The home and the mother (4th house) are a busy point in this chart.
• Saturn aspects the 5th, 9th and 12th houses, but no planets: its influence falls on the matters of those houses (children, fortune, and expenditure).
• The 2nd house (Scorpio) is aspected by the Moon, Mars and Jupiter, though empty.

#Summary

• A graha aspects houses counted from itself; aspects go one way.
• Varahamihira's grades: 3rd and 10th ¼, 4th and 8th ¾, 5th and 9th ½, 7th full; Saturn full on 3rd and 10th, Jupiter on 5th and 9th, Mars on 4th and 8th (Brihat Jataka II.13; Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 26.2–5). No aspect on the 2nd, 6th, 11th or 12th.
• Aspects can be read by sign or, as Aiyar's note explains, by degree with a 15° spread.
• The later texts measure aspect strength in virupas by exact angle (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 26.6–8).
• The Brihat Jataka gives Rahu and Ketu no aspects; later conventions differ.
• Two planets connect by conjunction, mutual aspect, exchange of signs, or one-way aspect.
• Benefic aspects protect; malefic aspects press; the effect depends on the sign and house (Brihat Jataka XIX).

#Exercises

1. Jupiter is in Aquarius. Which signs does it aspect fully? Mars is in Leo: which signs does it aspect fully? Saturn is in Pisces?
2. The Sun is in Gemini and the Moon in Sagittarius. Do they aspect each other?
3. Saturn is in Aries and Venus in Cancer. Does Saturn aspect Venus? Does Venus aspect Saturn, and how strongly by Varahamihira's grades?
4. Using the virupa table, how strong is an aspect at exactly 100°? At 200°?
5. In the example chart, which grahas does Mars aspect fully? Why might an astrologer call Mars a "key planet" of this chart?

Answers: 1. Jupiter in Aquarius: Gemini (5th), Leo (7th), Libra (9th). Mars in Leo: Scorpio (4th), Aquarius (7th), Pisces (8th). Saturn in Pisces: Taurus (3rd), Virgo (7th), Sagittarius (10th). 2. Yes, fully, both ways — they are opposite. 3. Cancer is the 4th from Aries; Saturn's 4th aspect is ¾. Aries is the 10th from Cancer; Venus's 10th aspect is ¼. 4. At 100°: (120 − 100) ÷ 2 + 30 = 40 virupas. At 200°: (300 − 200) ÷ 2 = 50 virupas. 5. The Sun, Jupiter, Venus and Ketu in the 10th, and the lagna itself; it is also strong in its own sign and lord of the 2nd and 7th.