The Study of Jyotisha · Chapter 32 of 54 · Part Six · Judging the houses

#The seventh house: marriage and partnership

#What the seventh house means

Varahamihira's word for the seventh house is wife (jaya, kalatra), that is, the spouse; its technical names are Manmatha ("desire"), Dyuna and Jamitra (both Greek words, from dysis "setting" and diametron, Brihat Jataka I.15–18). Aiyar's note lists the spouse, generosity and respect. The later books add: marriage, business partners, contracts, the public and dealings with others, open opponents (as distinct from hidden enemies, the 12th and 6th), travel and living abroad, and sexual desire.

The thread: the other person — whoever stands opposite us as partner, counterpart or rival. The 7th house is the descendant, the point setting in the west at birth, exactly opposite the ascendant. Where the 1st is "I", the 7th is "you".

It is a kendra. Later astrologers also call the 2nd and 7th the maraka houses, connected with the end of life; this course treats that use as history only (Chapter 33).

#Significators

• Venus is the natural significator of the 7th house and of marriage (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra 32.31–34). Many later astrologers use Jupiter as the significator of the husband in a woman's chart; Parashara's list of fixed significators names Venus for the husband (32.18–21). This course uses Venus for everyone and notes the alternative.
• The 7th from Venus is another view (7.39–43).
• The navamsa (D9) is the chart of marriage above all (Chapter 12).

#The navamsa and marriage

Of all the divisional charts, the navamsa is the one most used, and it is especially associated with marriage and the spouse. Later astrologers look at:

• the 7th house of the navamsa and its lord;
• the navamsa position of Venus (strong or weak);
• the navamsa position of the 7th lord of the birth chart.

A planet strong in the birth chart but weak in the navamsa "promises more than it gives"; weak in the birth chart but strong in the navamsa, it "gives more than it promises" (Chapter 12).

#Planets in the seventh house

These lines come from a world in which the chart was always assumed to be a man's, and "wife" was the main meaning of the house. Varahamihira also has a separate chapter on women's charts (Brihat Jataka XXIV), which judges a woman's chart largely by the fortunes of her husband and by ideas of chastity that belong to its age. This course describes that chapter as history and does not use it; it reads the 7th house of anyone's chart, man or woman, as their partner and partnerships.

The later readings are gentler and more useful: a planet in the 7th describes the kind of partner and partnership one is drawn to. The Sun: a proud or authoritative partner, or one's own ego in relationships. The Moon: an emotional, caring partner. Mars: an energetic, independent, possibly contentious partner. Mercury: a young-minded, communicative partner. Jupiter: a wise, principled partner. Venus: a charming, pleasure-loving partner. Saturn: a serious, older or delayed partnership. Rahu: an unconventional or foreign partner. Ketu: detachment in partnership.

#The lord of the seventh house

The 7th lord in the 6th, 8th or 12th makes the Phaladeepika's "Dushkriti" (Chapter 21).

#The example chart: Aries in the 7th

#The house itself

• Sign: Aries, a movable, fiery sign of Mars: initiative, independence, directness, energy.
• Occupant: Mars, in its own sign, forming Ruchaka yoga (Chapter 18) — and Mars is also the lord of the 7th.
• Aspects: none.
• Ashtakavarga: 27 points: middling.

#Mars, the lord, in its own house

The 7th lord in the 7th, in its own sign: a strong 7th house. Partners and partnerships are important in this life, and the person attracts strong, independent, energetic partners, or acts with energy in partnership. Mars is the strongest planet in the chart by shadbala (Chapter 14). Mars also rules the 2nd house, so partnership and wealth are linked (Chapter 27).

The other side of Mars in the 7th: Varahamihira's line (as the Sun: disgrace through women) and the later readings (a contentious partner) both point to friction in partnership. Mars is the planet of conflict, and the 7th is also the house of open opponents. The dignity (own sign) softens this a great deal (XX.11): Mars's energy is more likely to be constructive. And it aspects the ascendant, so the partner strongly influences the self.

Mars in the 7th is also one of the placements of the modern "Mangala dosha" (Chapter 41), which that chapter examines critically. Modern lists often say that Mars in its own sign cancels it, but no classical text has been found that says so.

#Its significator: Venus

Venus is in the 10th, in Cancer, joined with exalted Jupiter and the Sun, in exchange with the Moon. In the birth chart, a reasonable placement. The 7th from Venus is Capricorn (Rahu, aspected by Jupiter, Venus and the Sun).

But in the navamsa, Venus is in Virgo, its debilitation sign (Chapter 12). This is the classic case where the navamsa qualifies the birth chart: the significator of marriage promises less, or asks more effort, than its birth-chart position suggests.

#The navamsa

The navamsa ascendant is Libra (vargottama). Its 7th house is Aries, holding Rahu; the navamsa 7th lord Mars is in Sagittarius, the 3rd. Ketu is on the navamsa ascendant itself. Rahu and Ketu across the navamsa 1st–7th axis are often read as unusual circumstances in marriage, or a partnership that brings change and growth through challenge.

#The reading

A strong 7th house — Mars, its own lord, in its own sign — showing that partnership is a central theme, with strong, independent partners and the person's own drive expressed through partnership (and business partnership, since Mars rules the 2nd). Friction is possible but constructive. Venus is good in the birth chart but weak in the navamsa, and the navamsa 7th holds Rahu: marriage is likely to be important and demanding, a relationship that grows through effort rather than ease. Combined with the strong 10th, partnership and career are closely bound together.

#Summary

• The seventh house is the spouse, marriage, partners, the public, open opponents and travel (Brihat Jataka I.15–18); it is a kendra, the descendant.
• Its significator is Venus (with Jupiter used by many for the husband); the navamsa is the main chart of marriage.
• Varahamihira's rules for planets in the 7th assume a man's chart; this course reads the 7th as the partner in anyone's chart and uses Brihat Jataka XXIV only as history.
• Planets in the 7th describe the kind of partner and partnership.
• The example chart: Mars, the 7th lord, in its own sign in the 7th (Ruchaka); Venus well placed in the birth chart but debilitated in the navamsa; Rahu in the navamsa 7th — partnership important, strong and demanding.

#Exercises

1. Why is the 7th house called the house of "the other"?
2. For a Capricorn ascendant, which planet rules the 7th? Where must it be for the 7th lord to be in the 7th?
3. A chart's Venus is exalted in the birth chart but debilitated in the navamsa. What does that suggest?
4. What does Mercury in the 7th signify by Varahamihira's rule, and by the later readings?
5. In the example chart, why is Mars in the 7th less difficult than Varahamihira's line suggests?

Answers: 1. Because it is exactly opposite the ascendant (the self), setting in the west as the ascendant rises in the east; it represents whoever stands opposite us — partner, counterpart or rival. 2. Cancer is the 7th from Capricorn: the Moon. It must be in Cancer, its own sign. 3. That marriage promises much but gives less than the birth chart suggests, or asks for more effort. 4. Knowledge of the law (XX.6); in the later readings, a youthful, communicative, intelligent partner. 5. Because Mars is in its own sign, which by XX.11 reduces bad results to a quarter, and it is the 7th lord in its own house, strengthening the house; it forms Ruchaka yoga.