When the sun-moon axis aligns with the Rahu-Ketu axis, a Solar or Lunar eclipse occurs respectively.

Think of this as reverse of combustion in terms of Sun. When any planet comes too close to the Sun, it gets ‘invisible’ or ‘burnt up’ and loses power to protect the significations of the houses it rules in the chart. However the opposite occurs when Sun comes close to Rahu or Ketu. It is “swallowed” up, or so to speak and becomes weak. Within 8 degrees of Rahu or Ketu, this is more prominent.

Another thing to be noted is when Moon is too close to Rahu, the mind gets predisposed to Paranoias, obsessions and phobias. In addition the mind and emotions get an extreme nature in their intensity and such a person can have wild swings in their moods/ feelings and imagination. This can also disturb sleep and other things which Moon is a significator of like mother, sleep etc. Likewise when Sun is too close to Rahu the ego gets amplified in a negative way, there can be problems to or with father or authority/ government.

Also to be kept in mind is the fact that both the nodes expand the characteristics of any planet they sit with, but in a weird-Karmic or psychological fashion. Ketu can increase a planets energy by internalizing that energy and Rahu by externalizing. Hence Moon with Ketu can give a detached mind (from materialistic things) but if Moon is otherwise strong, the person has strong powers of concentration. Likewise Sun with Ketu can make for a spiritual soul and person whose ego is checked. If Sun is weak in dignity that can mean self-esteem issues, but if Sun is strong it can imply a very well balanced/ humble personality which has powers of concentration and good ideals/ morals in life.

13) Nodes

Things to be kept in mind regarding nodes are-

• Will give results of the bhaav they sit in and rashi and Nakshatra they sit in and its lord. So example if Rahu is in Cancer, it will act like Moon (owner of Cancer) and so dignity of moon in chart will also dictate intensity and nature of results of Rahu
• They amplify and reflect the effects of planets they are conjunct with. E.g. in the above example when Rahu is with Mars in Cancer, it will not only give results like Moon but also like Mars as it will ‘mimic’ or reflect Mars. So whatever Mars promises in the chart will be given by Rahu
• They create some order of confusion and uncertainty in the houses they sit in. The house where Rahu sits in is the area where the native will put in a lot of energy in this life time and run after the issues of the house. The house where Ketu sits in, the person will be sort of detached to the significations of that house.
• Typically Rahu and Ketu give good results in the 3^rd, 6^th, 10^th and 11^th Bhaavas and relatively negative in the other bhaavas
• Both Rahu & Ketu will tend to give sudden results in their planetary dasas related to houses they sit in and planets they conjunct. Positive or negative will depend on the planet and bhaav and their dignities
• By inherent nature, Rahu acts like Saturn in terms of blocking, delaying, throwing problems in a native’s path and Ketu acts like Mars or giving anger, sudden results/ surgeries/ injuries etc. But this inherent nature is modified as per planets they conjunct of course. So if Rahu sits with Venus in a chart, it will tend to give results like Venus and whatever Venus rules in that particular chart
• If Rahu or Ketu sit in a Kona house (1,5 or 9^th) and are conjunct or aspected by a Kendra lord (1,4,7 or 10^th) then they will give Yoga Karaka results or very good results. This will happen if Rahu-ketu sit in a Kendra house and conjunct or aspected by a Kona lord
• If Rahu or Ketu get related to the 8^th house by placement or conjunction, their malefic nature increases and more so the likelihood of some sudden even goes up manifold. This is because 8^th house also represents sudden events and Rahu and Ketu are Karakas (significators) or sudden events

14) Planetary War

When 2 planets are so close to each other that they have less than 1 degree space in between them, they fight for space and it’s called ‘Grah Yudha’ or Planetary war. This is usually negative. The planet with the higher degree is deemed as the Winner and the other the Loser. Notably the Loser planet will always manifest some problems related to the significations of houses in rules. Example Mars at 10.2 degrees and Venus at 10.8 degrees in Aries. In this case Venus wins the war and Mars loses as Venus is ahead of’ Mars

15) Yogas

Coming to a topic which is perhaps in the top 3 of most important in terms of analyzing a horoscope. This topic is vast both in depth and breadth and takes years to master. Yoga means a combination of 2 or more planets in a given sign. Generally the closer the 2 or planets are to each other in terms of longitudes (degrees) the stronger the Yoga.

In Vedic astrology there are thousands of Yogas. These is simply because of all the permutation/ combinations possible for 2 or more planets conjoining each other.

Good Yogas are generally called as ‘Raj Yogas’, wealth yogas are called ‘Dhan Yogas’. A negative Yoga can be a ‘Dur Yoga’ or “Arishtha Yoga’.

Among thousands of Yogas, BV Raman mentions 300 very important ones in one of his treatises, which I would highly recommend to the reader.

As of now, for the scope of this article, a few things worth knowing are as follows–

• Lords of a Kona (1,5,9) combining with each other is exceptionally good
• Lords of a Kona (1,5,9) combining with a Kendra lord (1,4,7 and 10) is also a great +ve Yoga
• Lords of Kona or Kendra combining with a Dusthana (6,8 or 12) lord is Negative
• Lords of two Dusthana lords combining with each other is called ‘Vipreet Raj Yoga’ or in other words –ve/-ve becomes positive. This Yoga typically works after initial difficulties and struggles which lead to a heavily positive scenario later
• Since the lords of Dusthana carry negativity with them, it is best if they are situated in another Dusthana (example 6^th lord in 8^th or 8^th in 12^th or 12^th in 8^th) etc.
• Any house whose lord is in own house or exaltation will try to enhance the significations of its rulership house
• When a planet is combust or debilitated or weak in dignity as per the dignity rules we know, it will give problems related to the area it rules in the horoscope and also the area it is placed in
• As mentioned before when a planet rules 12^th, see its other lordship. Even though 12^th is a dusthana, if the other house it rules is a Kona then the results will be good and not bad. Example for Gemini Venus rules the 12^th house and also the 5^th But Mooltrikona sign is 5^th. Hence Venus will give more of 5^th house which is great. So a well placed Venus will give very good results inspite of its 12^th rulerships
• Very important point to note is that Good and Bad yogas can co-exist and not really cancel each other. As an example say a person has Capricorn rising with Saturn (1^st and 2^nd lord) with mercury (6^th and 9^th lord) and Jupiter (3^rd and 12^th) lord all in 9^th house, then 1, 2 and 9 combining in the 9^th is a strong Raj yoga and positive. Jupiter in 9^th will tend to give good results too as it’s a neutral planet for Capricorn (refer to functionality of planets) but still it is also the 12^th lord in 9^th and 6^th lord in 9^th This implies the person can be fortunate and rich (1^st and 2^nd lords in 9^th) but also wavering health (1^st lord combining with 6^th lord) and can have relations with father disturbed or lose his father early in life (12^th lord in 9^th of father and 6^th lord in 9^th). Thus when analyzing any Yoga, -ves and +ves can co-exist.

Please note that softwares like Jhora and others might even list many of the Yogas. But one has to keep in mind that how much a Yoga will manifest depends on the strength/ dignity of planets involved and closeness of Yoga and many other factors the reader has already learnt as of now.

16) Dashas & Transits

Again an extremely vast topic which we are not going to discuss right now.

What we have discussed till now is some basics of what signs, houses and planets represent. How dignities of planets can be seen and a horoscope made. By all those tools one can see the promise within a horoscope. However WHEN a good or bad event precipitates is to be seen by predictive tools of Dashas and Transits. These are used for TIMING the events and the promises a horoscope holds. These topics will be dealt with later

Next I will post a couple of detailed Case studies of well-known personalities and even from what you have briefly learnt as of now, you can see how the theory applies in analyzing a horoscope.