1

Bhavas in detail 1st Bhava – the crux of the chart, the foundation, the first house the astrologer checks The 1st house is called the house of Thanu or Kayam which is literally “body”. The 1st house is the most important house being the pivot and main file of the chart. What is negated in the 1st house although indicated in the reference house will likely result in negation of that particular signification of that reference house. Such is the impact of the 1st house. The 1st house represents the seed of the tree containing the DNA or profile of potentialities and liabilities of the native waiting to unfold during the sequence of the dasa-bhukti. The astrologer checks the Lagna before checking the reference bhava or bhava in question. The Lagna is the foundation or support of the chart. The Lagna is the gist, essence, encapsulation or capsule of the chart because the ancients saw man as the measure of all things – things were measured and perceived from the human perspective or angle as the feet, furlong, yard as man was the yardstick. Everything was measured using the human anatomy or conception. The 1st house is called the Lagna or Ascendant. The Lagna basically represents the native or self. The Lagna is ascertained from the intersection of meridian and horizon when the Sun rises in the east – it encompasses the arc of longitude between the rising degree of the first house and the rising degree of the second house. The important factor in Siddhic Astrology is the Lagna degree (or cuspal degree) and its constituent nakshatra and sub. The Lagna degree is supra because the Lagna is the pivotal gatekeeper containing all aspects of other houses and relating to all the other eleven houses and the Lagna represents the potential and overall destiny of the native. The Lagna degree is supra because the sublord of the rising degree or cuspal degree of the 1st house uniquely identifies the blueprint of the individual to distinguish from a twin or person born in almost the same time or location. The sublord or kalamsa of the rising degree of the Lagna can differ within the minute (if it is in the sandhi of the sub; the average sub span of time is about 6 minutes with Sun sub as the shortest at 2.66 minutes and Venus sub as the longest at 8.88 minutes) or outside the 15 miles circumference in location. The connection of this kalamsa/sublord to other bhavas and rasis uniquely identifies the individual native. The Lagna degree is you or your astrological blueprint; therefore it is supra. All that occurs in life, the Lagna will approve, disapprove or stay indifferent or neutral to the event. For everything, one must check the Lagna first before analyzing the other houses. The 1st house is the particular section of the 12 house construction of the heavens occupied by the Sun during the two hour or so duration before sunrise. The 1st house is the interface between the inner self and society at large (expressed as the 1 to 6 house hemisphere of inner self and 7 to 12 hemisphere of interaction with

2

society) which is summarily expressed in the signification of the 1st house as character and personality (Sun & Moon as karaka of 1st house). Personality is derived from the Latin word “persona” which means the mask or face we present to the world. The personality is the emanation of our mind as Moon which is ever changing in response to the stimuli or context of people we interact while the character or self as Sun is the inner core or the brain. The 1st house is summation of the individual self expression and all matters related to the self ie the overall health, appearance, perception, status and standing of the person. The 1st house addresses the internal and external aspects of our selves as character and personality, our presentation to the world, our essential qualities, approach to life, demeanour and basic sensibilities. The 1st house is about the inner and outer self. The 1st house is seen as the self in relation to another or to society at large. It is never the self in isolation. This is especially so in relation to the 7th house of spouse, partner, competitor, client, customer or person we meet, interact, socialize or have business with. So, in a meeting with a contestant, competitor, client, customer, patient, friend, partner etc the person who consults or is the main subject in question is represented by the 1st house while the 7th house represent the other person. The 1st and 7th form two halves of one whole ie the 1st and 7th can be seen as native-spouse, querent-astrologer, associate-partner, mentor-student, lawyer-client, doctor-patient, querent-competitor, businessman-customer and vice-versa depending on the situation whichever signification is the 1st and the 7th. The 1st house together with the 3rd, 7th and 11th are the houses of relationship and significantly the akam houses of expression of desire (“karma” houses) for relationship. The 1st house expresses the self in relation to another as the polarity of one on one relationship be it on individual basis or group basis ie astrologer as 7th house and querent as 1st house on individual basis and the favourite soccer team as 1st house and the underdog soccer team as 7th house on group basis. The Lagna or Ascendant is the general synthesis of the whole chart and stands for the person or native born. The Lagna is the central processing unit of the chart and portfolio of significations of particular houses can be assessed in a general sense from the Lagna. Thus, issues like status, name, fame, profession, livelihood and dignity as seen from the 10th house, gains and support as seen from the 11th house, marital potential as seen from the 7th house, health and ill-health as seen from the 6th house, mental disposition and attitudes as seen from the 3rd house, passions and liking, speculative and risk-taking tendencies as seen from the 5th house can be evaluated in a general sense from the Lagna initially before going to the specifics of that house. The Lagna is a summation of all houses of the chart and is especially linked to all houses in the chart thus the qualities of the main processing unit of the Lagna will affect all aspects of the native’s life. The Lagna is synonymous with the 1st sign of the Kalapurusha Aries which represents matters of the head and brain ie the impulse of the first, initiative, assertion, self and all beginnings. The Kalapurusha 1st sign Aries has the nakshatras Ashwini, Bharini and Karthigai. Ashwini represents the impulse of the void of beginning, Bharini the extremes of impulse and constriction, Karthigai the light of life.

3

The Lagna or Ascendant is the first two hours or so when the Sun rises in the east and moving towards the 12th house is the motion of moving from the personal 2nd house dark hemisphere to the bright hemisphere of 7 to 12 houses is indicative of its latent brightness and yet apparent “weakness” due to it being given birth to. This movement from “darkness” to “brightness” is the dawn of awakening when the seed of the tree is yet to blossom into the tree shows the potency of the self and paradoxically, the weakness of the self as latent and dormant summation of potentialities. Summary: the 1st house represents the self, person, ego, querent, subject matter, appearance, health, overall appearance, body, longevity, fortune, potential, character & personality, destiny, overall aspect, main file. The body parts signified are the brain, head and forehead. The 1st bhava adjectives are self-serving, selfish, independent, alone, lonely, singular, self-determined, leading, main, significant, central, salient, important, excellent, enterprising, freelancing etc. Jobs you may equate with the 1st bhava are rulers, leaders, bosses, consultants, freelancers, thinkers, philosophers, brain surgeons etc. The principle of negation operates as follows: the 12th link or preceding house works to deny the significations of the succeeding house especially the akam or puram aspect of the succeeding house as indicated by the akam or puram nature of the preceding house. For example, the 4th house is a puram house. As such, it will promote the puram aspects of the 5th house but deny the akam aspects of the 5th house especially children which is an akam aspect of the 5th house. The exception to the principle of negation is the mutual and reciprocal relationship between the Lagna and the second house. Both these houses beneficially assist each other. The Lagna is dependent on the resources of the second house to sustain itself ie the food, family, finances and image-keeping aspects of the second house sustains and nourishes the Lagna and the second linkage gradually improves and progresses the Lagna. Because of this benefit from the second house, the Lagna does not negate the second house. This linkage can be seen in the link between the career of the 10th house and the income of the 11th house. 2nd Bhava – the resource based and supportive link The 2nd house is called the house of Dhana or Finance. The 2nd house is the worth or self-esteem of the native. The 2nd bhava is the support to the Lagna in the sense that it is the resources, assets especially the financial assets, liquid cash, moveable properties of the Lagna. The 2nd house supports the Lagna in the sense that it feeds and nurtures the Lagna using the resources of wealth, cash, food and family to sustain and the nurture the self. Thus, the resources of finance, food and family are seen as the assets of the self to support the self. We need all these assets ie finance, food and

4

family to sustain our livelihood and survival. The face or image of the self is also shown in the 2nd house as per Kalapurusha scheme of body part designation. The face is also an asset to the self as it promotes and signifies the individuality of the self and in today’s world, the face or image is a valuable intangible asset which can generate income for the native or self. In ancient times, the face or beauty was also an asset which would cost emperors their empires – Paris would elope with Helen of Troy and this infatuation initiated the Trojan wars, Shah Jahan would built a magnificent mausoleum in memory of his Mumtaz, the Han Emperor would forsake his empire for his consort the luminous Yang Guifei. In short, the 2nd house supports the Lagna by nourishing and nurturing it with food, finance, family support, facial image or façade or appearance which can bring in more finance to support the native. The 2nd link gradually and gently grows or progresses the Lagna as wealth and resource link. The 2nd link support is expected for survival purpose and is not as dramatic as a 3rd or 11 link of younger and elder sibling support and multiplying factor. The 2nd link support is the immediate support almost as a consequence of birth ie the things that support us just after we are born like food, family, clothes, resources, finance, possessions, money, cash etc. The 2nd house also signifies speech, oratory, tasting and eating food because of the organs of the Kalapurusha it represents namely the mouth, tongue and throat. This is the reason why the 2nd house which does not represent communication per se stands for oral communication or speech. The parampara tradition of oral transmission of teachings is well represented by the 2nd house. The 2nd house is essentially the house of ownership, of possession, of extension of the self, of support of the self, of self worth, self esteem, self pride, material goods, claims, money, cash, wealth, status, of the secondary factor to the primary factor of the self. The material dimension enhances and improves the self as Lagna and makes us feel good, worthy, celebratory and life is worthwhile living. The 2nd house is part of the 1 to 6 houses of personal affairs of the native in contrast to 7-12 which deals with the native’s interaction with the external world. The 2nd house is one of the puram houses which support the Lagna (akam house) and by derivative house logic, we can extend the logic of the native’s wealth to the younger sibling’s wealth as 4th house, mother’s wealth as 5th house, children’s wealth as 6th house, spouse’s wealth as 8th house, partner’s wealth as 8th and by extension a fund manager’s managed funds as 8th house, father’s wealth as 10th house, boss’s wealth as 11th house, elder sibling’s wealth as 12th house etc. The 2nd house in Siddhic Astrology is considered the principal puram house and as a second link gradually improves, progresses and supports the activities of the Lagna or the reference bhava. The 2nd house is a supportive house of the 1st house and also dependent for its identity on the 1st house. The 2nd house is called a maraka (“killer”) house because it is the 12th (secretly undermine) to the 3rd house of life and dynamism. The 2nd house in jest is the house of wealth and family and it is said that money and family takes away the greatest quantum of energy and effort from the individual thus gradually dissipating his life energies. In the same vein of dubious logic, the 8th house is the

5

connoted death house because it houses the resources and wealth of the significant other or spouse. “Materialism kills; wealth diminishes the life energy and vitality” goes the old sayings and ancient beliefs. The 2nd house is synonymous with the 2nd sign of the Kalapurusha Taurus which has to do with values and worthiness, appreciation of aesthetics and beauty, accumulation and conservation of wealth and resources. Vrishabha, the Sanskrit word for Taurus means valuable and precious bull and not just any ordinary bull and represents wealth during olden times when cattle was seen as fiscal currency. Rohini in the 2nd sign Taurus is the most alluring, seductive and attractive nakshatra being the exalted nakshatra of Moon and is the most materialistic, concrete and most desirable of the nakshatras. The waxing and waning Moon, of wavering and capricious nature, craves for the nourishment provided by the second house’s significations of food, finance, family, face and general security. The second house is very security conscious and desires stability and abundance. It is a neutral house that gradually improves and progresses the previous house being the container and vessel collection of qualities of the previous house. The nakshatra of Rohini is associated with beauty, worth, value, culture, refinement and accumulation of wealth and resources. In the puranic tales, Rohini was the favourite spouse of the 27 spouses of Daksha/Brahma. To expand the meaning of possessions and personal belongings of the 2nd house, we can extend to the psychological level of self esteem and attitude towards possessions especially material goods belonging to the native Ascendant. The second house talks about how we view our own possessions and personal belongings and how the akam of the self interacts with the puram of material belongings. To this extent, we externalize our face image and our face image is conceived as a puram asset dependent on the Lagna and not as an akam asset. By the same token, a corporation as the Lagna will have its brand, façade, goodwill and reputation as the 2nd house operating as the lagna dependent puram assets. Summary: the 2nd house signifies the assets of the native namely the finance, food, family, face, wealth in general especially liquid assets like cash, shares, moveable properties and personal belongings ie jewelry, items, inventory, speech etc. The body parts signified by the 2nd house are the face, neck, eyes, mouth, lips, cheeks, chin. This is synonymous with the Kalapurusha’s Taurus rasi ruled by Venus. Venus, the lord of beauty, image, face and appearance, is in charge of the body parts of face, neck, nape of neck, mouth, lips, tongue, cheeks. Thus, there is a congruence of bhava, rasi and Nathan. The 2nd house and 8th house share similarities of indicating the wealth or asset of the native and his spouse or other’s wealth managed by the native. The 2nd house and 8th house are symbolic holes with the 2nd as an ingesting hole which deposits wealth in the form of finances and food while the 8th is an excretory hole which emits out unwanted wastes and remove debris for purification and cleansing. The 2nd house adjectives are wealthy, fiscal, financial, supportive, resourceful, worthy, valuable, conserving, conservative, prudent, hoarding, possessive, accumulating, image conscious, ingesting etc.

6

Jobs connected to the 2nd bhava are banker, treasurer, jeweler, warehouse keeper, farmer, restauranteur, chef, caterer, image maker, beautician etc. As an even number house, the 2nd house is essentially puram in nature ie finance, food, image, resources, personal belongings, jewelry, assets, cash, moveable properties like furniture. The Lagna dependent akam portfolio of the 2nd house includes face, eating and tasting and lagna independent akam includes family. The 2nd house is also mentioned as the extended family in the sense of “people close to you” due to the proximity of the 2nd house to the Lagna. The 2nd house is essentially a puram house being an even numbered house. This house promotes the stability of wealth, facial appearance, family harmony and food sustenance. It does not like dynamic hurly-burlies and “instabilities” of the 3rd house, known as the house of mental tendencies like courage, enthusiasm, dynamism and daily actions and movements like short travels, errands, mundane activities, expressions, communication, connections and transport which implies dynamic and fluctuating activities. The 2nd house has a need for stability and thus negates the dynamism of the 3rd house especially the akam aspects as per the 12th link principle. The second house is the only puram or even house which truly promotes the affairs of the Lagna by being promotive, supportive, resourceful and useful. 3rd Bhava – the bhava of mental inclinations, mentation and connectivity The 3rd house is called the house of Bhratru or sibling and Sahaja or relations. The 3rd house is the closest definition to the term “bhava” or “bhavam” which means expression or gesture because one of the important significations of the 3rd house is expression. In ancient times, the first mode of communication was through expression mainly through the use of the limbs especially hand gestures. Expression through hand gestures was primordial and preceded speech – thus, the significance of communication via use of gesticulation was underscored by the 3rd house. The 3rd bhava is called the bhava of living dynamism. The 3rd multiplies the vitality, animation and living energy of the Lagna and is the house of daily mundane activities eg errands, administrative and operational work, necessary work of the day, communication, relating, transport, logistics, connections, writing, reading, calculating, reporting, spreading, distributing, disseminating, sending, posting work, walking etc. The words “dealing, transacting, operating” is a 3rd house action. The 3rd bhava is the most dynamic and busy bhava because it represents the Kalapurusha 3rd house of upper limbs lorded by busy Mercury. The 3rd bhava’s representation of the upper limbs and lorded by Mercury ensures that it is an active, dynamic, busy, proactive, agile, adept, flexible, nimble, adaptable, pliable house encompassing daily mundane activities and relating with the environment

7

and nearby relations. The 3rd house is symbolically represented by the handshake and holding hands as in the process of communication, communion, relating and understanding. In this respects, the 3rd house is a public house to the extent of its acts of relating, dissemination, spreading and communicating which involves relatives, neighbours and people in the community. The 3rd house connects as our instinct for learning our environment, our language and expression, our relations to our relatives and neighbours, our infections and contagion with others, our gossip, chit-chat, sharing of ideas, relating our ideas via writing, reading, stating, noting, communicating are all multi-facets of connectivity. The 3rd house represents the “lower mind” or “mundane mind” which deals with the arrows of daily life and mundane errands eg administrative and operational matters to be handled by the native whether he is Royal or pauper, logistical issues and all efforts to ensure the nitty-gritty matters of life is taken care of. Because of the 3rd house association with the lower mind, the 3rd also represents early learning, instinct, automatic body actions and reactions. The 3rd house multiplies the strength and energy of the 1st house being 3rd to the Lagna thereby supporting and multiplying its vitality. The 3rd represents the younger sibling as the 3rd comes after the 1st while the 11th represents the elder sibling as the 11th comes before the 1st and both the 3rd and 11th supports the Lagna as well-wishers, supporters, sponsors, comrades, brotherhood and fraternal fellowship of brothers. The 3rd is the 8th house link to the 8th house of death thereby abruptly ending the death energies of the 8th. Between the 3rd and 11th house, the 3rd signifies sibling per se. The 3rd house is 12th to the 4th house of property acquisition; therefore in property questions, the presence of the 3rd house indicates action of disposal or sale of property or the end of residence or loss of home. However, as for purchase of property, in a prashna question the answer would be a negative if the 3rd house appears in the links. The 3rd is the conscious mind to the 4th psychological and sub conscious mind. The 3rd house stands for death of parents because it is the 12th negation to the 4th house of mother and the 7th maraka, in Vedic astrology, to the 9th house of father. As the house of vitality and animated energies, the 3rd also represents the mental tendencies, inclinations, courage, determination, vitality, energy, ardour and enthusiasm being the higher octave of the 1st house qualities of vitality, longevity and self. The 3rd bhava compared to the 9th have common significations of travel and journey except the former is short travels and the latter overseas journeys or long distance travel. The 3rd bhava talks of a mind dealing with the mundane aspects of life on automatic pilot while the 9th talks of a high level of use of intelligence ie reasoning, logic and accumulation of knowledge in research and higher education. However, the 3rd house emphasizes the basic qualities of education like the 3 R’s ie writing, arithmetic and reading and its related aspects namely expression, communication, reporting, calculation, accounting, computing, reporting, journalism, articulation, stationery, posting, post office, telex, telegram, message, messenger, contracts and documentation. These actions of contract and

8

documentation must be supportive of the self as the 3rd house is a multiplying and support house factor to the Lagna and is beneficial to the Lagna. The 3rd house as polarity of the 9th house also emphasizes early learning and the “lower mind’s” understanding and grasp of experiences and mundane activities for survival. We may regard the 3rd house mental activities as deriving from the school of hard knocks and graduation from experience while the 4th house is formal academic education with result of attendance of school, examinations and academic certificates while the 9th house emphasizes higher forms of learning such as philosophy, theoretical analysis, explorations into the roots and foundations of a subject matter, spiritual studies, Ph.D., research and probing insights. Mercury as the Nathan of the 3rd house of the Kalapurusha is historically known as the messenger of the gods and the speedy communicator with mastery of hand-eye coordination and use of the upper limbs and speech articulation. The 3rd sign of the Kalapurusha Gemini indicates the dual nature of the 3rd house and its mastery of the upper limbs and all Mercury activities ie commerce, errands, transport, communication, expression, connection, distribution, dissemination, mental inclinations and determination, documentation, short travels etc. The 3rd sign of the Kalapurusha has the nakshatra Ardra or Thiruvathirai the lord of wild animals. The master hunter shows the mercurial qualities of agility, speed, adaptability, skill and balance. The previous nakshatra of Mrigashiradam indicates the curiosity of Mercury while the last nakshatra of Punarpoosam shows the skills of connectivity and the messenger due to its returning arrows and boomerangs. Summary of 3rd bhava – all forms of connections and communication, expression, dissemination, interactions with one’s personal surroundings, spreading, public announcement, distribution, relating and 3 R’s, relatives, neighbours, daily mundane activities and errands, mental tendencies and inclinations, mentation, early learning, courage, enthusiasm, confidence, liveliness, animation, determination, self-effort, contract, documents, short travels, younger siblings. The aspects of thinking, processing, sharing, communicating and connecting, distributing and disseminating are the main elements of the 3rd house. Body parts of 3rd bhava include the upper limbs of shoulder, arms, elbow and hands and lungs. 3rd house adjectives include expressive, communicative, connective, distributing, spreading, public, agile, adept, dynamic, mental, relating, mundane, determined, self-exerted, courageous, ardent, enthusiastic, inclined, confident, lively, bubbly, animated, documented, supportive, brotherly, fraternal. 3rd house jobs include messenger, journalist, reporter, writer, explorer, postman, trader, publicist, distributor, wholesaler, middleman, negotiator, broker, speaker, accountant.

9

The 3rd house is the first of the triumvirate of karma houses of desire, satisfaction and fulfillment namely the 3rd house of daily activities and completion of errands and minor tasks, the 7th house of spouse and fulfillment of matrimonial desires, the 11th house of friendship and fulfillment of social desires. The triumvirate of 3, 7 and 11 are also known as the public houses because the 3rd publicizes, prints and publishes, the 7th is the house of public welfare and socializing (all marriages are social proclamations and public affairs), the 11th house deals with groups, friends and the community. The 3rd house negates the puram aspects of the 4th house while promoting the akam aspects of the 4th house. 4th Bhava – house of productivity and maternal care, materialization and stabilization The 4th house is called the house of matru or mother. The 4th bhava is the 2nd of the Kendra or angular houses (1, 4, 7, 10) and therefore has tremendous significance and importance. The 4th house is important because it rules the home and all domestic matters. The 4th is the nadir or bottom of the astrological chart and signifies all forms of private matters, privacy, secrets, buried treasures, hidden matters, underground objects, womb and the heart of the matter. The home is the private domain and territory of the native overlord. From the depths of the nadir or bowels of mother earth or depths of the subterranean as a result of the churning of the ocean, come all forms of treasures like vahana (vehicle or automobile), buried treasures, education or learning and from the depths of the heart and mind comes happiness and peace of mind. If you were to study the mythology of the churning of the oceans, you will have noted all the resplendent treasures being churned out of the ocean for the benefit of humanity eg vahanas, scriptures, wealth, elixirs etc. The nadir is the bottom of the chart and represents the roots, origins and source from whence the native originates ie from his home and homeland. A person is said to originate from his womb of his mother, from his home, from his hometown and from his homeland. The nadir also symbolically represents the inner aspects of the person like his private matters, happiness, emotions, feelings, moods, state of mind, abode, sleeping, buried treasures, earthworks, wells, digging, underground, underground activities. The nadir also represents the womb of mother earth and therefore signifies all mothers, caretakers, fertility as in the fertile womb or fruit of thy womb, productivity and generative aspects. Conversely, the generative or productive element may lay hidden as a latent and dormant potency waiting to unleash its potentialities. As the earth’s resplendence, all forms of homes and foundations built on earth as the private residences created on the foundation of the earth are also signified by the 4th house as immovable properties. Another inferred meaning derived from the symbolism of nadir is our roots, ancestry, past and relationship to traditions and our home or metaphorically “home sweet home”. Thus, the home has connotations of mother earth, mother land, homeland, hometown, home, hearth, abode, heart and roots or origins.

10

While the 9th house of father emphasizes the lineage (“parampara” in Tamil culture) and genetic poorvapunya or inheritance of good qualities, the 4th house stresses the past and how the tradition of the home and maternal care shape and mould the instincts, habits and behavioural mode of the native. The sense of great depths as evinced by the watery depths of Cancer the first water element sign and lorded by Moon, the significator of the psychological mind (ironically the silver grey matter of the cerebrum represents the silver grey colour signified by Moon) represents what is buried in the psychological sense ie the subconscious and instinctive mind. Our minds can fathom the great depths of the complexities that life offers. What Mercury, the son of Moon, rationalizes and analyzes, the psychological Moon synthesizes. The Moon of the 4th house seeks peace of mind, contentment and stability which a harmonious and cozy home can offer. The 4th is the mother just as the 4th card in Tarot is the Empress, the 4th nakshatra of Rohini is the most productive and materializing while the 4th house of Cancer lorded by Moon the mother Queen of the nocturnal night houses the nakshatra of Poosam the nourishing and auspicious as only a mother can to a child. The 4th as the 4 legs of a table, chair or animal or 4 pillars of foundation of a construct represents symbolically the foundation of life as much as the nurturing and caring caretaker is to the infant. The 4th is the octave of materialization and concretization which the process of production and generation results in. The mother is the initial source of education to the native and thus, education and mother forms part of the significations of the 4th house. This is in juxtaposition to the father as other half of the parent equation who represents the mentor for the livelihood of the native and thus provides the foundation for higher education as the Guru or Teacher. The father was not just the paternal figure but also the spiritual mentor and guidance. We may assume that the 3rd house should be the mother as the counterpoint to the 9th house as father. However, the 3rd house does not represent the mother because it is a masculine odd house and it is too dynamic, agile and full of liveliness for a mother figure. A mother figure must be nurturing and nourishing, caring and comforting, productive and fertile, feminine and gentle, domestic and homely, supportive and setting the foundation, stable and secure, embracing and universal, happy and emotional, firm and solid, fluid and flowing, peaceful and calm, soothing and succoring. The 4th house as a feminine even house comprehensively and definitively signifies all these qualities. The 4th house is an important component of the chart (emphasis is on one of the most important of houses) because it represents the most important elements of a person’s life namely peace of mind, happiness, contentment, education, home, domestic harmony and domestic matters, mother’s nurturance of the baby and child. These elements form the sound and solid foundation for a life of progress and accomplishment. Because of these significations, the 4th house is the foundation of the chart after the 1st house. The nadir or depths of the person is best expressed in the inner thoughts of his psychological make-up or mind and the inner urgings of his heart. The 4th house is a foundation cornerstone of the

11

chart, like the 4 legs or padas of a table and chair, because an afflicted 4th house will result in disturbed mind, unhappy disposition, discontentment, dissatisfaction, lack of foundation, lack of productivity, lack of peace and serenity. The numeral 4 represents materialization, stabilization, grounded-ness, realism, nurturing care, productivity as in the Tarot 4th card of the Empress symbol of feminine care and productivity. The 4th nakshatra of Rohini is the most materialistic, materializing, stable and grounded nakshatra with a penchant for generating fulfillment of desires. Brahmin priests in Vedic times chanted for fulfillment of material desires when the Moon transits the nakshatra of Rohini. It is the nakshatra which the Moon is exalted by being posited therein and Daksha or Brahma, the primeval principal deity of generation, is most enamoured of Rohini among the 27 consorts (the 27 nakshatras) of Brahma. The 4th house has a varied number of significations lorded by various karakas namely mother, domestic matters, home, peace of mind, contentment, privacy and emotions, productive mode, fertile womb (Moon), happiness and vehicles (Venus), properties and buried treasures (Mars and Saturn), education and formal academic schooling (Mercury). The 4th house of the Kalapurusha is Cancer the watery and moveable zodiac sign which is indicative of the ever pumping heart pumping blood all the time for living beings and all forms of nurturance, food nourishment, place of solace and respite, hiding place and inner depths. As a watery house and Cancer sign, the 4th house is nurturing, sustaining of live forms and both Cancer and its lord Moon is the principle of the nurturing and caring mother. The 4th is part of the triumvirate of the hidden and secret houses of mysticism ie the 4, 8 and 12th houses. The 4th is the nadir or deepest bowels of earth or depths of subterranean waters indicating our fertile womb of the earth which is fruitful and fertile as in the “Hail Mary” prayer of “fruit of thy womb”. It is the kitchen or production or manufacturing/generating unit of the matter and assist in sustaining life as in the waters of the embryo or placenta nurturing the infant child. The saying goes that food or the kitchen is the way to the cockles of a man’s heart – the way to win a man’s heart is to cook him a hearty meal. While the 4th represents our home or private residence (the coziness of homes distinguish from houses and properties), the 8th represents obscurity and the 12th the back or behind of everyone or secret activities especially in a hidden place or foreign land. The 4th also symbolically represents the outcome or ending of a matter in tandem with its trine with the 8th house of endings, outcomes, consequences and death The 4th house represents vehicles because the feminine Venus, which signifies vehicles, is harmonious with the feminine Moon. Vehicles represent wealth and status flaunted in display of wealth atypical of Venus’s character. It is a moving (as per the moveable mode of Cancer and Moon) and obvious loud display of wealth and status unlike immoveable properties as though the public house (paradoxical as the 4th house ruled by Moon signifies both private acts and public activities and activities to be seen and shown to the public like the shining Moon, queen of the nocturnal darkness) of the 4th flashes its wealth ostentation. Education is a primary vehicle or vahana for career advancement and knowledge acquisition and education is usually derived from the mother and from society. Education is the greatest akam wealth far superior to all wealth for knowledge is the basis of wealth. While the 4th house signifies education in general, the 9th

12

house signifies higher education, research, philosophy, religious or scriptural studies and tutelage under a learned mentor usually via a lineage tradition. In the Vishnu Purana, the churning of the ocean of milk generated plethora and assortment of shaktis notably vahanas or vehicles of the gods, amrita or elixirs and medicinal cures, siddhis or items of magical powers, akam and puram wealth and so forth as though symbolically the innermost wealth from the nadir depths of the 4th house produces vehicles, homes, education or wealth of the mind, happiness, contentment and peace of mind and health, the greatest twin treasures of all wealth. The 4th house multiplies the resources and personal belongings signified by the 2nd house into properties, vehicles, education and happiness, all various forms of fortune and wealth. The 4th house appearing in a dasa link ensures that the native will be childless during that dasa period. Only the bhukti having a 3rd house linkage to negate or neutralize the 4th house effects can the person bear or have children during the bhukti of that dasa. Within the 4th house is the auspicious nakshatra called Poosam symbolically depicted as the cow’s udder of nourishment. Poosam literally means the nurturing and as Saturn’s nakshatra materializes the caring goodness of Cancer. The earlier nakshatra of Punarpoosam has the implicit meaning of returning and safely coming back to home, thus the association of the 4th house with the home and maintenance of status quo. The nakshatra of Aayilium within the 4th sign Cancer of the Kalapurusha is the coiled snake hoarding wealth and treasures of knowledge thus the tendency of the 4th house like the 2nd house to store and accumulate wealth and knowledge in terms of properties and educational certificates. The 4th house is the house of animals and more specifically animals which assist in the work of the human master eg bulls which assists in plowing the fields. By extension, the animals eventually became pets in the 6th house when they have assisted their human masters and return home to be fed as reward for their hard work. Summary of 4th house significations – depths, heart, secrets, privacy, home, domestic matters, production, manufacture, fertility, womb, mother, public matters, education, vehicle, property, graveyard, happiness, peace of mind, psychological mind, construction, method, system, kitchen Body parts include heart, chest, breast, womb, mind, body fluids, blood. The 4th house adjectives are productive, fertile, generating, secretive, private, public, maternal, caring, happy, emotional, contented, peaceful, amicable, homely, domestic, psychological, educational, constructive, methodical, systematic, sea-related, ship-related, deep feeling, 4th house jobs include caretaker, babysitter, sailor, homemaker, manufacturer, personal assistant, educationist, automobile salesman, property agent, architect, psychiatrist, psychologist, contractor, beverage seller, events organizer.

13

The 4th house is a stable house or a house aspiring towards stability because of its significations of mind, home, happiness, education, vehicles, properties, mother, production of food etc all which requires stability. The 4th house negates the 5th and if both houses or links are present usually presaged childlessness and lack of fun, enjoyment, intellectual creativity. The 4th and 10th linkages presage blockage and impediment unless they are referring directly to their respective significations which they will not block or impede. 5th Bhava – house of creativity, faith, rest and enjoyment: child’s play. The child’s domain: think of the attributes of children. The domain of the intellect. The 5th house is called the house of putra or children and bhoga or pleasures. The 5th bhava has many significations but the main expressions are play and creativity. This is principally because this house is the principal significator of children. In numerology, the number 5 represents humans because it refers to the 5 senses and to the number 4 as physical manifestation of creation and the extra 1 as the liberty and freedom to master the 5 senses. Children love to play and enjoy, amuse themselves, be entertained and are often surprisingly creative and precociously intelligent. Their minds demonstrate the clean slate of innocence, the foundation of intelligence and insights – a mind free of preconceived notions and assumptions is often able to grasp new insights effectively. However, children are also naughty, mischievous and often fight for spoils. Thus from the child’s perspective, we have already developed several important aspects of the 5th house namely love, play, enjoyment, amusement, entertainment, creativity, intelligence, politics. Among these aspects, the two most fundamental to the 5th house are play and creativity. By play, we refer to the various forms of hedonism namely entertainment, amusement, enjoyment, enjoyment of the joys of money and materialism, partying, functions etc. By enjoyment, we derive pleasures and pleasant sensations which are the natural self and are to be distinguished from the 4th house’s happiness and peace of mind which is a form of becoming and requires a form of understanding with the self. By this, we mean that pleasures and sensualities or enjoyment of the senses are instinctive and natural while to attain happiness and peace of mind requires a state of becoming and not being. The 5th and 9th houses are considered lucky and blessed houses to the Lagna being akam houses of personal development and strengthening the self and natural extensions of the self. These two houses of the 5th and 9th are considered the luckiest and best houses of the chart with 9th being theoretically considered the best house and its 12th to it ie the 8th house is considered generally as the worst house. The trines are considered spiritual as in the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva etc, the triangular pyramid is considered sacred. So the 5th and 9th are sacred and beneficial to the Lagna. The 5th house is the 12th (12th link) to the 6th house of work and service and thus the 5th “undermines” the 6th house ie antithetical to the 6th house ie rest,

14

relaxation, pleasures, gratification of senses, amusement and entertainment are antithetical to hard work and physical exertion & effort. After all the play and rest, and expenditure of karma, it is time to get back to work, the 6th house of work logically follows the 5th house of rest and play. The best form of relaxation, enjoyment and gratification of the senses at least to the hedonist and sensualist is the performance of sex as the 5th house of which it should not be construed with the sex partner, spouse or intimate relation expressed in the 7th house, the petit le morte or “little death” indicated in orgasm is seen as a 8th house expression of release and the comfort and enjoyment of sex is seen as a 12th house signification of bed comforts. Thus the sex act per se is the 5th house to be distinguished from the 7th, 8th and 12th houses. Ironically, there is disorientation between 5th house’s sex and 12th house’s bed comforts due to the 8th house link from the 5th house. The 5th as an extension of the Lagna and self represents the intelligence and resources of the mind (2nd house to the 4th house of mind represents resources of the mind ie the intelligence). The highest form of intelligence is intuition, the innate ability to comprehend something in a holistic manner immediately and instinctively. A high intuitive ability and intelligence is conferred by a fortified 5th house. Intelligence to flourish must exist in a form of playful state of rest, relaxation and enjoyment. The mind which is calm, free of anxiety and concerns, is the mind which flourishes in creative intelligence and intuitive insight, thought leadership which forms the highest level of intelligence. The 5th and 9th house has religious undertones being dharmic houses but there is a distinction between the 5th and 9th in this regard – the 5th uses the intellect (gnana) and expresses in mantra recitation, chanting and scriptural studies while the 9th uses the religious action (bhakti love and dharma virtues) and expresses in religious rituals, pious duties, religious virtues and deeds. Both actions are beneficial to the self and community and conform to natural and universal laws, the natural order, the law of trinity or trine to the self. It is said that the pyramid preserves lives, the triangle is the yantra shape which denotes fire and fire is the light of life which ignites and stimulates the vitality of life. Another form of “intelligence and play” combined is creativity which is a form of self-expression, another aspect which accentuates the self. Creativity, reproduction and the results ie children are aspects of the 5th house. This tallies with Leo the natural Kalapurusha 5th sign, the sign of self expression and creativity, talent and giftedness. The lion is lazy and playful preferring to live among its pride of lions sleeping for most of the time in its den while his pride of females hunts for prey. When the season for mating arrives, the lion is randy, procreative and demonstrates high sexual drive and often produce a litter of cats. Mostly, the male lion is busy eating, mating and sleeping. One of the most procreative nakshatras is Pooram located in Leo which is called the marriage nakshatra because of its procreative and romantic nature. The animal symbol of the earlier nakshatra Magham is the rat, a procreative animal with a high litter. The highest forms of creativity are often expressed in the fields of arts, performing arts, beauty and appreciation of aesthetics and all its forms of glory ie

15

painting, decoration, craftsmanship etc. Talent laden aspects like singing, dancing and acting are also expressions of creativity and its 5th house representation often find conflict with the 10th house of career being a 8th link from the 10th and 6th link from the 5th . The 5th house is also linked to matters of the heart like infatuation, liking, passions, ardour as this heart-felt matters are often expressed in love and romance, the topics of which have poured great creativity and imagination in poems, songs, movies and theatres. Love, romance, affairs, the sex act are all indicated in 5th house the emotion of which has been most creatively expressed in history. Perhaps, had sex not being a pleasurable act, the world would have been less populous and the love emotion and instinct would not command such attention and creativity. Leo as the 5th sign of the Kalapurusha and the first fire element sign in the trine is rightfully called the sign of creativity and reproduction. The Sun is the life giving principle which endows living beings with liveliness and life force animating cold blooded reptiles with warmth to circulate their blood and providing chromo-therapeutic essence to humans as well as aiding process of photosynthesis in plants. The Sun thus provides the bubbly and sunny disposition to be the centre of attraction and livewire of the party and amusements. Pleasure is often the result of the creative act. The procreative act of sex is pleasurable otherwise this world will be under-populated. What makes you feel good falls in the domain of the 5th house. Indeed, the 5th house is quintessentially associated with children as also with speculation. The association of children, reproduction and speculation is apparent when you consider the speculative chances of the sperm meeting the ovum and how it is betting against the odds to impregnate the ovum. Having children is not something we can plan, command and demand. It is something which happens by chance as though by God’s blessings. Children are a source of pleasure and also an extension of ourselves as our future or what we see as our future. Children are also the product of a creative act or more accurately procreative and pleasurable act. The other aspects of chance like risk taking, exploration, adventures are also placed in the 5th house of faith, belief and hope. The 5th house, as also the 9th house, is considered a lucky house and along its other attributes of faith, belief and trust, also provide the components or basis for the gambling, betting, speculation and chance activities. The 5th as represented by its Kalapurusha’s lord, Sun is significator of sunny optimism and positive attitudes. Natives with strong 5th houses often demonstrate an iron belief in the future and positive hope. This description is further enhanced by a double Sun effect in Uttram. Leo is the only sign with “double Sun” of positive sunny optimism and confidence in that both the sign Leo and its intrinsic nakshatra Uttram posited in the sign of Leo are governed by Sun. The 5th house is the 1st of the triumvirate of trinal houses 1, 5, 9 which impacts favourably on the Lagna (which is considered both trinal (moolatrikona or kona in short) and angular (kendra)) because the 5th and 9th are considered auspicious and beneficial houses being in a triangular aspect or trine angle to the Lagna and both the 5th and 9th are considered religious houses favourable to the self and community at large. The 5th emphasizes the religious rituals, mantras, yantras and various forms of religious practices while the 9th house is the house of religion per se as it is also the House of God, blessings, God’s protection and

16

protection. The 5th and 9th not only is beneficial and auspicious to the Lagna but they also enhance and strengthen the Lagna. This is because the 5th house represents kingship, favour of the government and authority figures, intelligence, enjoyments, religiosity and all these good qualities not only enhance the self but also the mind as the 2nd to 4th house while 9th’s blessings, grace of God and protection not only confer shelter against life’s adversity but also confer luck, fortune and prosperity on the self as though symbolically the father and mentor has guided the native on the true path to prosperity. The great irony here is that although the 4th house is the house of mother, womb, fertility, productivity and generating effects, it is to the 5th house that the signification of children is allotted. Perhaps, the sole rationale is that the 5th house is the house of creativity and forms part of the triangle of trinity as Lagna, 5th and 9th houses which is beneficial to the Lagna. Children are the products of creation or our creativity and self expression. The Lagna is the present karma as agami karma, the 5th house is the future karma as prarabdha karma, the 9th house is the sanchita karma or poorvapunya as past karma (SAP – Sanchita, Agami, Prarabdha karma as past, present, future karma). Let us detour to define the karmas:

"Prarabdha is that portion of the past karma which is responsible for the present body. That portion of the sanchita karma which influences human life in the present incarnation is called prarabdha. It is ripe for reaping. It cannot be avoided or changed. It is only exhausted by being experienced. You pay your past debts. Prarabdha karma is that which has begun and is actually bearing fruit. It is selected out of the mass of the sanchita karma."

From "All About Hinduism" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

In vedantic literature, there is a beautiful analogy. The bowman has already sent an arrow and it has left his hands. He cannot recall it. He is about to shoot another arrow. The bundle of arrows in the quiver on his back is the sanchita; the arrow he has shot is prarabdha; and the arrow which he is about to shoot from his bow is agami. Of these, he has perfect control over the sanchita and the agami, but he must surely work out his prarabdha. The past which has begun to take effect he has to experience.

There is another beautiful analogy also. The granary represents the sanchita karma; that portion taken from the granary and put in the shop for future daily sale corresponds to agami; that which is sold daily represents prarabdha.

Thus, we may analogize as follows ie the Lagna as the prarabdha karma or present karma, the agami karma or future karma as the 5th house and the sanchita karma or past poorvapunya karma as the 9th house and the present vocational karma as 10th house.

The 5th is the derivative 12th negation to the 6th house of infirmities and enmities. Therefore, the 5th house when present in a question will assist to defray debts, cure ailments and reduce the affliction of hidden enemies. The fact that the 5th is

17

an antidote to the afflictions of the 6th house indicates its beneficence. The only blemish here is the difficulties with work and service due to its negation of the 6th. Therefore, the link from the 5th must be seen to be either a akam or puram link to the 6th – if it is an akam link, it means denial of ailments and enemies while if it is a puram link, it means denial of debts or service work. The 5th house is generally a peaceful, non-conflict and benevolent house being the 12th negation to the dusthana 6th house of conflict, enmities and infirmities. Sports were considered by the ancients as mere entertainment and amusement form rather than competition and rivalry when Olympics and tournaments were not so popular. Majority of ancients saw sports not as rivalry which is a 1-7 polarity issue or 6th house signification of enmity and enemy. Sporting activities were more a gentleman’s pastime and plaything then and records were not meant to be broken. Sports were then forms of amusement and entertainment for the gods and kings and theatre for the masses like what was portrayed in the Roman Coliseum. In short, sports were for fun then but today, with the worldwide glare of international media, sports are for prestige, money, income and fame (10th, 2nd, 11th and 1st). The word “sporty” harks and resonates of casual fun, playfulness and amusement rather than serious competition which is what sports has become today. Politics, kingship, conferment of power is another attribute of the 5th house in line with its 5th sign of the Kalapurusha Leo the lion king of the jungle. The greatest game or sport played in life is none other than politics, the game which decides the destinies of not only individuals but nations and humanity. Politics has been metaphorically stated as actors playing their designated roles in the highest stage, the highest form of acting and statesmanship, a talent for the ages. The ancients saw Ministers of State as ideally statesman of caliber and integrity and possessing of knowledge and intellect. Ministers in Sanskrit were called “Mantri” or literally persons who use mantra or advisers. However, one of the sinister connotations of the 5th house is its 8th derivation from the 10th house or fall from high office or position of power. The 5th house is strongly associated with the parampara tradition of transmission of teaching from Guru to sisya or mentor to disciple. One of the great plays or lila of life is astrology or the decipherment of life through the language of the skies. A 5th house sublord tenanted or linked to graha of Jupiter (knowledge), Mercury (intellect) or Kethu (intuitive insight) indicates potential and interest in astrological knowledge and understanding. Love, matters of the heart, passion, heartfelt matters, infatuation, liking, hobbies, romance, dalliances, affairs are all aspects of our expression, creativity and pleasures. One of the unusual results of application of bhavat bhavam is that the 5th is the 11th from the 7th and thus means gain or profit from the partner or spouse. Romance is a gain from the significant partner? Summary of 5th house significations – matters of the heart, infatuation, liking, intelligence, intuition, insightful, politics, kingship, religious rituals and mantras, speculation, gambling, betting, creativity, self expression, procreation, reproduction, children, faith, belief, trust, sports, pastime, hobby, fun, party,

18

function, feast, rest, relaxation, amusement, entertainment, talents, performing arts, arts, beauty, aesthetics, denial of debts, disease and enmities, sexual, pleasures, commission. Body parts of the 5th house include abdomen, stomach, outer heart 5th house adjectives are heartfelt, intelligent, intuitive, pleasurable, enjoyable, speculative, chancy, heartfelt, infatuated, likeable, loving, lovable, creative, procreative, sexual, amusing, entertaining, fun, relaxed, restful, casual, artistic, aesthetic, beautiful, talented, political, regal. Jobs related to the 5th house are artist, intellectual, hedonist, speculator, risk taker, commission earner, broker, entertainer, performer, beautician, painter, decorator, politician, manager, athlete, sportsman, creative artist The 5th house negation to the 6th house implies rest and relaxation as necessary state for curing the ailments of the 6th house, creative intelligence as the best way to defeat the enemy ie Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” states that deception is the best form of victory, rest and relax as antithesis of hard labour, intelligence as antithesis of physical exertion of labour and kingship and leadership of the 5th house as antithesis to the 6th house of labour. 6th bhava – house of infirmities and enmities; house of overcoming obstacles, obstructions and impediments The 6th house is called the house of ripu or enemy and roga or disease. The 6th bhava is the house of infirmities and enmities. The infirmities here refer to the ailments and weaknesses of the body brought on by infection and old age. The 6th house is considered one of the triumvirate of difficult houses, all puram houses, namely the 6th, 8th and 12th houses which are called the dushthana houses in Hindu astrology. However, among the dusthana houses, it is considered the least malefic house because it is an upachaya (3, 6, 11) and artha (2, 6, 10) house. By “upachaya”, we mean an improving or progressive house and by artha, we mean a wealth-related house. While the 10th house represents career, prestige, reputation and status or the results or fruits (more accurately called karma or station in life) of one’s work and efforts in profession, the 6th relates to our relationship to work and service. The 6th relates to our physical and mental exertions and energies poured into our work and often relates to service work ie work which is paid a fee, salary or wage in deference to a paymaster while the 10th house generally refers to the overall tenor of the career or profession and can refer to any forms of work and business undertaken whether as entrepreneur, boss, agent, partner etc. The 6th is a service house relating to all forms of service eg servants, pets, clients and customers. Pets were considered a 6th house signification because the ancients took to animals to labour on the pasture fields and other forms of hunting as working mates and later brought them home as pets thus conferring on these pets the status of working mates and servants or animals in service and work who served their human masters. The 6th house is a difficult house in the sense that all forms of labour and work are against the natural instinct and tendency for rest and relaxation, pleasures

19

and enjoyment already elaborated under the 5th bhava. While enjoyment and pleasures have a primary role and objective of fulfillment of the senses, meaningless or worthless work can form part of the work ethic. While all forms of rest and enjoyments have a meaning and objective of sense gratification, work or service on the other hand can be meaningful and meaningless, worthwhile and valuable or without aim and useless. You would have noted that all the dusthana houses are puram houses – this is simply because the puram houses are houses of “becoming” and not houses of “being” or akam houses. “Being” is a natural state of doing what is natural to the self in consonant with the flow of the universe while “becoming” involves some form of striving to achieve one’s desires and the so called “non-living” puram houses are the “becoming” houses implying that striving to attain material ends require effort and time to accomplish. The underlying moral is that attaining material ends may require “difficult” means as evinced in the dusthana or malefic houses. The 6th house by dint of its inconjunct or quincunx aspect (150 degrees aspect) with the Lagna and its association with infirmities assumes all forms of battles and struggles of the human body with germs, virus and bacteria. Thus, this is the house of struggles, strife and hard work and on a refined level, service. It is also struggles against enmities or enemies and eventual triumph against the opponent. Thus, the 6th house has two sides of the coin ie the negativities of disease, debts, enemies, dire straits, duties, struggles and strife of hard work and physical exertion and the positivities of victory, success and successful application for loan. Owing to its negative and positive attributions especially its attribution of victory, triumph and success, the 6th house is considered, besides the classification of “upachaya”, as the least malefic of the “dusthana” houses of 6, 8 and 12th which being puram and in mis-aligned aspect to the Lagna, is detrimental to the self. The 6th house has many unpleasant connotations and significations the chief exception being victory or defeat of the opponent. Ailments, hidden enemies, work especially unpleasant work, service to others, toil and physical exertion, debts which can be seen as current burden waiting to be dislodge over time and seen as an investment of the significant other ie 12th to the 7th when the 7th is seen as the other. The 6th house is perceived as uneven or unequal being the negation or antithesis to the 7th house of proportion and equality – thus unequal relations of superior-subordinate, landlord-tenant, slave driver-slave etc and all forms of burdens are seen as 6th house significations. Debts which are burdens for now (but not to businessmen who may leveraged on debts to obtain greater turnover and profits) is a reflection of the 12th house of expenditure and loss which can drive one into debts and is derivatively the 8th from the 11th or “bad” for profits. The 6th house however is seen as an upachaya house with progressive improvement over time as its salient feature. Thus, although initially suffering setback will gradually improve and grow over time. Thus, all the arrows and difficulties in life like disease, debts, disputes, disagreements, debates, dire issues, dilemmas, dangerous and dark hidden enemies, digestive problems, doleful duties, dreadful matters may assuage or reduced in intensity over time. It can be seen like the waxing and waning of patient’s ailments and recovery thereafter. The 6th is associated with daily chores and routines possibly because after sunset, it is the time between the end of daylight and midnight when there is nothing to

20

do except routine and mundane work. This relates back to the service nature of jobs which can be humdrum and routine chore. The obverse of sickness and infirmities is health, hygiene, diet, fitness, daily regimen, hypochondria, fastidiousness about body maintenance which are all 6th house matters. The 6th house appearing in a linkage in the Lagna and in the 7th house is a strong indication of bachelorhood and spinstership. Notwithstanding the infirmities and enmities, the 6th house has the positive association of victory and success especially the defeat of opponents in a contest or competition as per the rules of 12th house negation ie the 6th “undermines” the 7th as the opponent. The 6th is also the trinal triumvirate of 2, 6, 10 artha or wealth houses of earth element. Thus, a strong 6th house ensures almost “invincibility” as well as responsible and dutiful person in carrying out his work or service ie the native has a healthy and good relationship to his work and superiors. Natives with strong 6th houses will be difficult to be vanquished, perhaps even “indestructible” and will have strong careers eg Fidel Castro has a strong 6th house and was an indomitable foe to the implacable United States. The 6th house also represents the major portion of the stomach as represented and shared by the split nakshatra of Uttram posited 2/3rd in the Kalapurusha 6th sign of Virgo and 1/3rd in the Kalapurusha 5th sign of Leo. The 6th house also represents the portion of abdomen between the diaphragm and the hips and is indicative of the lower intestines. Thus, the lower and major portion of the stomach and small intestines both responsible for absorption and assimilation of nutrients of food intake are signified by the 6th house. Digestion, assimilation and intake of food and the metaphorical associations of ingestion are part of the semantics of the 6th house. The 6th house is also concerned about drapery, fashion, attire and clothes of the person. During ancient times, people would wear clothes identified with their vocation. Some families would even attain epithets and even surnames and lineages in consonant with their professions eg Mr Carpenter, Mr Coffin, Mr Undertaker, Mr Taylor, Mr Weaver etc. The fact that people in olden days used to wear attire which identify their professions eg accountant’s pinstripes, lawyer’s chalkstripes, banker’s stripes, coalminer’s jeans and wore these attires for a large part of their working days indicate the prominence of workclothes and its relation to the 6th house as duty attire. Fashion and clotheshorse only became a prominent concept in the prosperous modern times. Clothes in ancient times were worn as work clothes to identify the station and vocation of the wearer. However, as clothes evolved into fashion, fashion itself has become part of the fabric of the 6th house. The nakshatra of the 6th Kalapurusha sign Virgo is Aatham the hand which grasps and grips everything it handles just like the grahani or intestine which grasps the nutrients and ingests. Thus, the 6th house of stomach has a lot to do with digestion and assimilation. Like the 5th house of risk taking, the 6th house involves risk taking in the sense of battling and fighting with the enemy to conquer and be victorious.

21

One of the paradoxes which lie at the heart of the 6th house is its signification of hidden enemies and victory or defeat of opponents. It is as though having the hidden enemy in one self will support to undermine the open enemy or opponent (also contestant or competitor). The 6th linkage or aspect or 6th house relationship is considered neutral in all aspects unless the query being asked is about ailments and enemies which is then deleterious and detrimental. The 6th linkage causes serious infirmities and enmities. Summary of the 6th house significations include victory, conquest over opponent, enmity, enemies, disease, debts, disputes, litigation, court cases, challenges, clothes, textiles, fashion, digestion, appetite, service, work, unequal relationships, pets, servants, slaves, invincible, bachelorhood, medicine, Body parts of the 6th house include major portion of stomach, abdomen. 6th house adjectives include sickly, burdened, confrontational, fighting, debating, competitive, challenging, fashionable, appetizing, digestive, serving, victorious, conquering, medical, military, militant. Jobs related to the 6th house include doctor, medicine man, competitor, litigator, textile merchant, clothes merchant, food, service, servant, government servant, veterinarian, animal rights activist. The 6th house is antithetical to the 7th in the sense that the 6th house of enmities and infirmities is not conducive to the 7th house. 6th house sense of competitiveness is detrimental to 7th house sense of harmony and cooperation. 6th house is only conducive to 7th on competition aspect as 6th house evokes victory for the Lagna self and the favourite. 6th house link to the 7th implies bachelorhood and spinstership. 7th bhava – the bhava of associations - the bhava of unity & togetherness and self-reflection; harmony, complementation and opposition The 7th house is called the house of kalatra or spouse. The 4 kendras or angles of the chart are the foundation or cornerstones of a human life namely the 1st represents the self, the 4th the home and domestic peace, the 7th the marital life and the 10th the career and reputation. The 7th house is the 1st house of the upper hemisphere of external interaction (the 1 to 6 houses are about internal interaction) and is the mirror reflection or diametrical opposite of the Ascendant. This polarity and the ancient view that after the hard work of the 6th house, the man will return home to expect his spouse to prepare dinner initiates the 7th house. The 7th house as direct opposite of the Ascendant and rising to the bright upper hemisphere shows strength and opposition or complementarity/harmony. The 7th house as the house furthest from the Lagna and being a reflection house of the

22

Lagna, it signifies significant others as partners or opponents in a contest. The 7th house indicates all forms of associations and partnerships whether marriage, the marital state, weddings, intimate relations, one on one or mano a mano, the significant other whether it is a single person or between two groups, business partnerships, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, unions, cooperations and coordinations and all forms of relationships and social interactions. Business partnership is part of the terminology of the 7th house because applying bhavat bhavam, the 7th house is the 10th from the 10th house of business. Libra’s balance scales are the trade scales of the merchant in the retail shop. As the last house of the bright upper hemisphere, it is in the public domain and is a public-related house. The cause and effect of association and partnership like harmony, contagion, opposition, tension etc are aspects of the 7th house. The marital state is seen as a paradoxical blend of harmony and balance as against opposition and challenge. Thus marriage is both a state of harmony and challenge. How much marital bliss one can obtain from marriage as well as sacrifices and opportunity cost lost in terms of the self. Many pastime of the self has had to be sacrificed for the sake of the spouse who is an “opposition and challenge” to the self. One of the seldom stated significations of the 7th house is domicile in a foreign land. Foreign travel and migration tends to be associated with the 3rd as short travels, 9th as long distant travels and pilgrimage and 12th as migration to a foreign land. An addition to the multi-dimensional aspects of travel is the 7th house by dint of its being furthest from the Lagna thus implying places far away from the birthplace. Some astrologers state that strong links of the Lagna to the 7th indicates prosperity will be found in a land far away from the birthplace. The 7th house is said to follow after the 6th house because the ancients saw men who worked in the fields or in their vocation returning from work or service as 6th house signification to meet their spouses who will prepare their food repast for them. The ancients saw the female spouse as the home maker or the person who takes care of the four walls of home. The 7th is the derivative 4th being the 4th from the 4th house and thus the 7th house also signifies one’s own home and who better to boss the home than the spouse. The element of association is developed further into the realm of competition where all opponents and contestants are seen from the 7th house. Associations especially on a one on one basis or group on group basis are also seen in the 1-7 house polarity ie the astrologer-querent, patient-doctor, banker-client, trader-customer, mentor-mentee, teacher-student and depending on who ask the question in a prashna/horary question, will determine who is the 1st house and who is the 7th house. As the principal house of polarity, the 7th house indicates either opposition or complement/harmony. Based on the precepts of Siddhantic Astrology, the dissonant or discordant opposition arises between puram matters and the harmonious complement harmony arises between akam matters. In other words, the polarity link is favorable for akam association but unfavorable for puram associations.

23

The 7th house appearing in a dasa implies that the native is protected from death during the operation of that dasa period unless the bhukti has the 6th house, 8th house and Lagna operating to neutralize the effects of the 7th house. The 7th is the mirror of reflection to the Ascendant and thus connotes and implies all forms of contemplations, self-reflections, mirrors, simulations and the shadow side. Thus, a characteristic of the 7th house is being self-reflective, contemplative, artifice and simulating. The 7th is also the sign of Libra, the balance scales, the sign of socializing, balance, proportion, charm and delicateness. As a balance to the 8th house of excretion and release, the 7th is the house of retention – thus, the body parts indicated by the 7th is the bladder and kidney. The genitals perform three functions of sexual organs, organs of retention and organs of release. However, the genitals are classified as the 8th house organ in Siddhantic Astrology also due to the association of the 8th sign Scorpio with the sexual and excretory function as well as its epithet “private parts” which is in tandem with the 8th house nature of secrecy. Sex as a pleasurable activity falls in the domain of the 5th while sex to bind inter-personal relationship is related to the 7th but the orgasmic momentary loss of consciousness and merger with the intimate other, which is a feeling of release and death of consciousness, belongs to the 8th house. Meanwhile, bed comforts associated with rest and sleep belongs to the realm of the 12th house and has been linked with sex due to its bed pleasure and comfort factors. As the natural 7th sign of the balance scales, the 7th house represents equilibrium, equanimity, proportion, balance, music, rhythm, unison, crux, counterpoint to the Lagna as the crux, reflection to the Lagna, harmony, elegance, fashion, beauty and aesthetics. Paradoxically, in competition or contest, the 7th represents the opposing forces or opponent who oppose and causes state of equilibrium or disequilibrium. Libra sign has the nakshatra Swathi which is the airy nakshatra lorded by the gaseous lord, Rahu. Swathi is supposed to be the master disseminator and networker with its ability to spread matters and expand its influence. This nakshatra lorded by the wind deity, Vayu has the many magnates and business tycoons born under its nakshatra. Summary of 7th bhava – marriage, wedding, marital relations, relationships, associations, partnerships, business relations, joint venture, merger and acquisition, unions, socializing, public acts of harmony, diplomacy, charm, self reflection, mirror, retention, balance, proportion, charm, cooperation, coordination, complement, opposition, opponent, contestant, competitor. Body parts of 7th house are kidney, bladder, lower abdomen. 7th house adjectives include marital, relating, public, associating, partnering, merging, united, sociable, harmonious, diplomatic, competing, opposing, complementing, reflective, contemplating, cooperative, balancing, mediating, peace brokering.

24

7th house jobs include marriage counselor, public relations officer, businessman, diplomat, mediator, peace broker, competitor, contestant, spokesman, organizer, beautician, image maker. The 7th house is antithetical and negating to 8th house effects notably the puram aspects. Death is unlikely to occur in a DBAS (dasa-bhukti) of the 7th house as it is antithetical to 8th house portfolio of death. The 7th implies harmony and public welfare and denies 8th house tendency towards debilitation, decay and death. 8th bhava – the orifice of release & waste removal The 8th house is called the house of mrityu or death. The 8th bhava is the most feared bhava with all its negative implications and Saturnalian qualities. The 8th house, like the 6th house, has no direct link with the Ascendant being in inconjunct aspect or quincunx. The 8th house is the higher octave or 3rd multiplier of the 6th house, thus the 8th shares many similar significations with the 6th except that the 8th magnifies the 6th house qualities – thus, you get chronic ailments, dangerous enemies, hardship and toiling work etc. The 8th house is moving into the lower dark hemisphere and connotes loss of energy and vitality. The 8th house is so to speak obviating or obviated in its link or relationship to the Ascendant and thus has no direct link to the Ascendant and its diminishing light or moving towards the dark half and no linkage to the Ascendant suggest obscuring or obscurity and diminution, deterioration, reduction, decay and debilitation of vitality and energy and the consequence of scarcity and poverty. The link of quincunx (8th house aspect) is a relationship of occultation between the 8th and 1st house. Apparently, it is as though all the negative attributes have been thrown into the 8th house namely in its negation 12th link to the auspicious and beneficial 9th house; it is thus antithetical to religion, luck, fortune, prosperity, blessedness, grace, God’s kindness, law & legitimacy, transparency & openness, compassion, charity, philanthropy, higher education & research. Thus, the 8th house signifies attributes of atheism and agnosticism, unlucky, misfortune, scarcity & poverty, cursedness, disgrace, notoriety & infamy, punishment & penalty, illegal and unethical, opaqueness and obscurity, cruelty & malevolence, miserliness & stinginess, selfishness, self-centredness and lack of education and narrow mindedness. The 8th house is arguably the most difficult house in the chart and accentuates the infirmities and enmities of the 6th house being the 3rd to the 6th and thus having the “multiplying” link of the 3rd aspect. The 8th house also share similar qualities of the 6th especially enmities and infirmities but in a more virulent and chronic duration. While a 6th house affair is usually acute, the 8th house tends towards chronic and death inflicting or terminal. The 6th may indicate debts but the 8th can cause bankruptcy. 6th can indicate litigation but 8th may indicate court cases which can ruin lives.Therefore, the ailments, debts and enemies indicated in the 6th become worse in the 8th which signifies chronic & prolonged major ailments which can be deadly or act as death inducing diseases or multiple ailments afflicting several parts of the body. Debts in the 6th could bring about poverty or

25

bankruptcy in the 8th and hidden enemies in the 6th could become implacable unknown major foes which inflict serious debilitation. The 8th house housing all the negativities is not unsurprisingly allocated the body parts of colon, anus, the nether region and all excretory and removal agents in the body being the orifice (hole) of the body in charge of release of waste material in diametrical contrast to the 7th house body part’s function of retention. Thus, the byproducts of the 8th house organs are urine, sweat, nasal discharge, faeces, fart gas and seminal fluids. In this respect, the organs of the 8th house perform release, removal and cleansing function which is so vital otherwise the body will die sic the anus story which understates its importance among the various body organs who declare their relevance. Besides the release function, the 8th house also perform the function of releasing sexual fluids necessary for reproduction which is widely regarded as “le petit morte” or the little death, thus it is paradoxical that the 8th is the 4th link of blockage from the 5th house of sexual act and activity. The body will cease to exist if the anus or orifices cease to operate their excretory and cleansing function. This is akin to a city where all the cleaners and dustbin man go on strike. Thus, although the 8th house is seen as the worse house of the chart, it performs the significant functions of release, removal and cleansing without which the Ascendant or self will collapse and die. This vital function of release and removal and its attendant linkage to death of the self shows another most vital facet or feature of the 8th house – its direct link to death and all death matters. While the obverse of longevity is death, the 8th house signification of death and nature of death (indicating how and circumstances of death of the native) has its perverse relation or obverse link to the Ascendant. Death is also a mystery, a mystical event in the eyes of esoteric thinkers and an abrupt and accidental event in the eyes of layman. All relations and links of death are connected to the 8th house – in a morbid twist, the 8th house is the house of spousal wealth and ironically it is said that this wealth kills. The mortal links also perversely connects the 8th house as the house of longevity because the moment of death defines the span of a person’s longevity. As the orifice of the chart, this orifice is the escape valve of the life force or prana breath of life at the moment of death. Death occurs when the life force seeps through the “hole” at the top of the skull or the sahasrara chakra. This is the final and greatest release of “fluids” from out of the body. All death matters and circumstances of death are related to the 8th house namely morbid, morose, gothic, gruesome, grim, dying, death-inducing, mortuary, graveyard (however note that grave and graveyard is denoted by the 4th house which carry the three homes of a person ie the womb, home and grave), forensics, pathological, deathbed, deathblow, death chamber, death knell, death sentence, death warrant, death wish, extinction, nether regions, moribund, mortal coil etc. The death links are expanded to include murder, slaughter, genocide, mercenary, killings, malevolent and malefic actions and all forms of crimes done usually in stealth. The consequences of death ie mortification, decay, decomposition, deterioration also emphasizes the state of decline and dilapidation signified by the 8th house. Thus all forms of reductionism, worsening, debilitation and decline are perversely and bizarrely indicated in the 8th house.

26

The timing of death is one of the controversial elements of astrology. There is this Hindu dictum that one can know the time of death of a non-living object but not its birth time while one can know the birth time of a living being, one cannot know their time of death. In Siddhantic astrology, death is a dasa-dependent event, and thus when the dasa or nakshatra is linked directly or indirectly to the 8th house and Lagna, death will occur in that dasa and the bhukti or sub linked to the 8th house will time the moment of death by its link to the 8th house. Death is the greatest mystery, the mystical event and occult moment connecting the two worlds and the abrupt accident which ends all accidents. The significations of mystery, mysticism and esoteric matters, occult and abrupt accident are part of the vocabulary/semantics of the 8th house. The 8th house is not all the negative malevolence that it is made out to be. It has the puram portfolio of windfalls, lotteries, jackpot strikes, unearned income owing to its sudden and accidental nature, dowry and alimony owing to its association with spousal wealth, fund management owing to its link with other’s wealth as derivative 2nd house of the 7th house of partner, insurance policy, premium and pay-out (payment from accident or bad luck affliction), legacy and inheritance (pay-out from death of close ones). Other people’s wealth or the spouse’s finance is seen as the antithesis of the self as it is the other’s assets which can be used in polarity or opposition against the self. While the 2nd house is seen as the support to the self as resources, wealth, finance and food, the 8th house is seen as the derivative 2nd house of immediate support to the spouse of the self. The mangalasutra or wedding necklace given to the bride is signified by the 8th house because it represents symbolically the immediate support or resource of the spouse as the 2nd house of the 7th house. The 8th house is the house of inheritance because it is the 12th of the 9th house or the loss to the father as inheritance is an expense and loss to the father and a gain to the son. The 8th house attribute of inheritance is to be distinguished from the 9th house attribute of legacy, lineage and patrimony. In ancient times, the Hindu father as mentor and guide will teach his sons the tricks of his trades so that the sons can carry on the goodwill and vocation of the father as a passing on of the lineage. The 8th house has earned its fair share of negative qualities in part due to its karaka lordships of the excretory masters Saturn and Mars the grand malefics eg criminal, dastardly, evil, most malefic, debilitating, decline, decay, downfall, disgrace, defamation, infamy, abrupt end or sudden termination, disruption, chaos, disarray and all conceivable forms of negativities eg threat, pain, infliction of pain, toil, torture, suffering, burden, stress, depression, tension, distress, humiliation, defamation, terrorism, fear, chronic matters, postponement, delays, sin, evil, malevolence, disgusting, horrible, atrocities, gross, insulting, wounds, injuries, hurts, penalties etc the works. Because the 8th house is part of the triumvirate of water element and hidden houses, it is the house of obscurity, metaphysics and esoteric subjects. The 8th is a veil which distorts the truth a la Rahu and presents a different façade to the masses in its mythological interpretations. The water element is contained in its natural container and always hidden with buried treasures and sunken ships. The 8th causes things to become obscure and unknown – over time the matter suffers from obscurantism. Thus, although it is hidden, it has great depths and buried

27

treasures waiting for the right recipient and time to unfold is hidden secrets in metaphysical and esoteric studies. As the obscure house of esoterism, mystery, mysticism and metaphysics, the 8th house aptly is the significator of the genitals as private parts. Its indirect association with sex via its signification of private parts makes the 8th house a fascinating house of sexual complications and sexual intrigue. The association of sex with the 8th house causes sex to be a complex issue in relationship which in actual fact should be straightforward and simply pleasurable. Sex is not just pleasures but leverage in the power equation and status in the hierarchy. Sex is also seen as mysterious, mystical and associated with the elemental forces as in Hindu tantra and Chinese sexual chi kung. Complicating further the complex issue of sex, it is seen as a taboo and puritanical subject much averse to publicity and transparency. Sex in its societal perspective is seen as localized and a subject of personal and private affair thus the association with the 8th house. However, although the aspect of privacy is innate and significant in sexuality, the ancient emphasis on pleasures has the subject matter of sex per se being relegated to the portfolio of the 5th house. From an instance like this, we should note and realize the importance of the emphasis and essence inputted by the ancients. Only with recognition of their emphasis can we understand why particular significations are placed under certain houses or bhavas. The greatest fear of the 8th is its association with death, death or loss of father, life threatening or death inducing chronic diseases, loss of job, denial of religion and belief system, the mortification and decomposition results of death and the shock to the system as a result of sudden termination, abrupt end and the disarray and postmortem chaos, the tears, fears, worries, anxieties which results from a need to re-examine values and systems of managing life. Death of a provider in the family often causes ramifications of disorientation and upheaval of the status quo which requires massive changes and transformation which is a signification of the next house, the 9th house. The 8th house may be nasty but the nastiness of life experiences provides the material for wisdom and insights. The 8th house is akin to the Kalapurusha sign of Scorpio which has much to do with insights, discoveries, explorations, pioneering efforts, innovations and the dark side and psychological shadow element of caverns, poisons, karmic retribution and orifices, neurologic shock, black arts, occult. The sting and poison of Scorpio is the antidote of status quo causing re-evaluation of life’s meanings (which we self-attribute). When surprised, the scorpion retreats into his abode of the dark cavern resonating how the Sun entering the 8th house recedes into the twilight as if entering into a dark cave. The 8th house informs us that death or endings are merely the beauty of beginnings as the stagnant ends are the means of fresh beginnings. The innovations, explorations, new insights, thought leadership, discoveries are the outcome of mankind’s penetration of the veil of mysteries and unraveling the depths of dark caverns of ignorance. The 8th house unravels the compliances and orthodoxy of religions to reveal its untruths which form as the opium pandering to the masses. Summary of 8th house significations – death, death issues, abrupt end, accidents, windfalls, other’s wealth, sin, crime, debilitation, decay, obscurity, orifice, release, removal, cleansing, penetrating insights, explorations, karmic retribution,

28

mystical mysteries, esoteric studies, negation to 9th house significations, multiply effects of the 6th house, unraveling of the status quo, relief, danger, disaster, disruption, catastrophe, chaos, riotous, coup d’etat, Body parts – orifices, excretory organs, anus, colon, sweat pores, genitals, nasal orifices, ear orifices, sahasrara orifice 8th house adjectives are accidental, abrupt, sudden, shocking, inherited, atheistic, agnostic, unfortunate, unlucky, scarce, penurious, handicapped, criminal, illegal, immoral, unethical, obscure, obscurantist, veiled, covert, secret, debilitated, decayed, decreasing, declining, mystical, mysterious, esoteric, penetrating, insightful, explorative, poisonous, revengeful, retributive, death, deadly, dangerous, morbid, moribund, pathological, forensic, investigative, detecting, deep, catastrophic, disastrous, disruptive, chaotic. Jobs related to the 8th house include explorers, thinkers, death merchants, criminals, mercenary, murderers, butchers, terrorist, rioters, underground profession, swindlers, forensics, researchers, investigators, private detectives, puzzle solvers, pathologists. As already mentioned, the 8th house is antithetical to the 9th house and imputes bad luck, misfortune, immorality, illegitimacy, lack of ethics, rules and regulations, chaos, disruption to the natural order and universal laws of the 9th house and criminal and anti-social activities perverse to 9th house of orderly and transparent acts. 9th bhava – Jupiter’s domain, house of higher thoughts and ideals; house of conformity and compliance with universal laws and natural order – the trine of natural flow and beneficence The 9th house is called the house of pitar or father, bhagya or fortune, dharma or virtues. The 9th bhava is widely considered the “best” house in the chart because it is the last and most complete trinal house completing the trinity of trine (moolatrikona) houses. The 9th, 10th and 11th house have many positive attributes because they are the highest points in the heavens from the point of the Sun’s daily motion from the moment of birth. The 9th is said to be the house of God, being a dharma house, protected by angels and protectors (while the 8th is said to be the gateway of hell) and the 9th provides the Jupiterian significations of prosperity, abundance, expansion, fortune, luck, religion, God’s grace and blessed protection, piety, law, compliance, ethics, morals, rules and regulations (this is also signified by the other spiritual Acharya Saturn who set the limits by imposing rules), virtues, deeds, benevolence, charity, philanthropy, compassion, kindness, aspiration, idealism, visionary, philosophy, higher knowledge, research, long distance travel, pilgrimage, in-depth studies, mentorship, teaching, consultation, advice being consonant with the Kalapurusha 9th sign of Sagittarius ruled by Jupiter, hence the Jupiterian qualities. The 9th house is the house of religion and the religious tendencies invest in belief, faith, hope, ideals, speculation and utopianism. Above all else, the 9th house is the

29

house of the father who was perceived by the ancients as the Guru, guide and mentor to his children to pursue their livelihood and the past as poorvapunya or “before or earlier virtue or merit”. By dint of its trinal or moolatrikona status, the 9th enjoys an exalted status among the pantheon of houses and deities. The 9th is the Zeus or king of the gods as much as Jupiter is the king of the planets in challenging the royalty of the Sun and the supremacy of Saturn. The 9th bhava, after the excretion and release of the 8th bhava, is transformative and physically changing. The 9th in numerology completes one full cycle of numbers (1 to 9) and awaits a new cycle of transformation. Michael Jackson’s and Incredible Hulk’s transformations are a result of the 9th house linkage. Despite all its Jupiterian associations and benefic qualities, the 9th house is also the house of loss of job (12th to the 10th house especially if fortified by the 5th house) and illicit relationships, mistresses and second marriage being the 3rd link of multiplicity from the 7th house. The 9th house, like the 5th house, is a very beneficial house which promotes the akam matters and personal development of the Lagna being the most advanced dharmic house. It is to be noted that while the 9th house is the house of religion being a house fortunate and beneficial to the community and society at large, divinity and spirituality is signified by the 12th house. It is easy and natural to be pious and religious having to just conform to the mores and rules of religion and community but it requires effort and internal development to realize spirituality and to be one with divinity. Thus, the 9th house of religion is a akam house or house of “being” while the 12th house of spirituality is a puram house or house of “becoming” , the houses of becoming always requiring a modicum of strenuous effort and striving after while the houses of being are natural expressions in tandem with the universal laws of nature. As the day passes from the grand heights of the midheaven of the 10th house and move towards the 9th house, it is as though the 9th house gets to enjoy the spoils and fruits of the 10th house before moving towards the obscurity and obfuscating obscurantism of the 8th house. The 9th house is the diametrical opposite of the 3rd house which indicated short travels, mundane mental activities, early learning and mental inclinations and determination. As the 9th house of long distance travel and pilgrimage, such long journeys put the native in unfamiliar situations and hence expand the natives’ consciousness. As its analogous opposite half, the 9th develops further the qualities of the 3rd, thus expanding consciousness from the mundane to the higher ideals thereby reinforcing it to the levels of higher education, professorship, PhD, philosophy, contemplation, higher thoughts, visionary idealism, long distance travel, pilgrimage like the visionary Sagittarian centaur who shoots into the upper reaches of heavens while being grounded to reality. Being a higher reflection of the 3rd house, the 9th house signifies purity of mind, conscientiousness, sincerity and integrity which are the necessary ingredients for religion and religious practices.

30

The Kalapurusha 9th sign of Sagittarius centaur which represents the combination of realistic pragmatism and visionary and inspirational idealism personifies the qualities of the 9th house. The centaur is the philosophical warrior and religious fanatic who will go all out to impose his religious utopian views and beliefs. The 9th house is the house of the father as the guide and mentor who trains and moulds the children to have the ingredients for livelihood in emulation of him and as the succession in the vocation lineage. While its diametrical opposite ie the 3rd should have been the mother, the fact that the 4th represents the womb of fertility, the feminine principle of mother earth, the puram concept of feminity, the materialization and concretization of the number four as symbolized by the Moon, the 4th sign of the Kalapurusha is Cancer lorded by Moon the mother principle and the 4th house is the house of fertility and productivity in line with the nature of mother. The 3rd house on the other hand negates these principles of the 4th house. The 9th house like the 4th house is a crucial house because it is the house of the father as mentor who will guide and teach the son and prepare him for his future career. The father is an important figure because the son carries the name of the father, the honour and respect of the surname. The father is seen as a benefactor and benevolent figure who will shape and mould the sons and support children in their endeavours at least from childhood through youth and at the pre-adult stage. The father is thus a benefactor to children and to the self as the trinity of the trine houses. The father as befitting a benevolent and kindly figure in the family who will support the children is always beneficent like the benevolent 9th house. The 9th and 4th house are thus very important houses to the Lagna because the 9th designates the name and honour of the family and the 4th is the initial stages of life as home and mother nurturing the child and the growing educational years. The 9th house is the final house of the trine of trinal houses. All three houses represent karma ie the Lagna is the present as self, the 5th house is the future as children, the 9th house is the past as the father. The sanchita karma is the sum of all past karma and the good karma resultant from good past life deeds is the poorvapunya expressed in the 9th house, the prarabdha karma is the fruits of past karma felt and being worked on in the present as the Lagna, the actions of the present determine the future as the 5th house. In short, the sanchita karma (literally means “accumulated actions”) is the sum of all karmas, the 9th house rules poorvapunya, the 10th house rules karma or station in life, the Lagna rules prarabdha karma and the 5th house rules the agami karma ie the portion of the actions in the present life that adds to the sanchita karma. Paradoxically and curiously, although the 9th house is the luckiest and most fortunate house in the chart, the house negating the 9th house ie the 8th house represents windfalls and lotteries. The trinal 5th house at least confirms speculation, betting and gambling and the 9th house presence should confirm the luck of the draw. It seems that the ancients wished to emphasize the surprise element over the luck factor in lotteries and windfalls. Summary of 9th house significations – beneficence, virtues, deeds, benefit to society, compassion, kindness, charity, philanthropy, sponsorship, benefaction,

31

Godliness, religion, ethics, morals, beliefs, faith, trust, hope, vision, idealism, luck, fortune, prosperity, abundance, poorvapunya, freedom, liberty, mentorship, teaching, higher education, knowledge, lineage, father, long distance travels, foreign travels, pilgrimage, transformation, physical changes, restructuring. Body parts of the 9th house are thighs, lap, hips, buttocks, back, liver, pancreas, gallbladder which are indications of Jupiter. The 9th house adjectives include beneficent, benefic, virtuous, lucky, kind, compassionate, charitable, philanthropic, godly, religious, wholesome, good, legal, legitimate, ethical, moral, believing, trusting, faithful, visionary, idealistic, transformative, restructured, lucky, fortunate, prosperous, abundant, mentoring, guiding, fostering, teaching, researching, inherited, patriarchal, fatherly, knowledgeable, philosophical, foreign, expansive, advisory, consultative Jobs related to the 9th house include priest, philanthropist, social worker, lawyer, banker, treasurer, philosopher, professor, scholar, traveler, adviser, mentor, teacher, educationist, curator, keeper of ancient items, consultant, adviser. The 9th house is antithetical or negating to the 10th house because as the house of religion it is antithetical to mundane and career promoting activities. The 10th is a mundane house of achievements and the 9th harks of religious matters and loss of job or inability to obtain a job during its DBAS or dasa-bhuktis. The 9th house is about achievements for God and community and not so much for the self while the 10th promotes the self. 10th House – house of career and reputation, height of prestige and accomplishments The 10th house is called the house of karma or vocation and station in life. The 10th house is the house of action being the strongest house of the kendra or angular houses. The 10th house is the summit or zenith of the mid-heavens when daily noon is reached and the epitome or apex of publicity and recognition is reached. To receive the highest form of recognition and publicity for one’s efforts, the 10th house must be present. Among the houses of publicity ie the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 10th and 11th, the 10th is the most visibly public. The 10th house is the summation of all your efforts in your karma (determined career and station in life), the distillation which defines your career as a whole. As an indicator of your career, the 10th house defines your profession and vocation. In esoteric terms, the 10th house is the karma or fruits of your poorvapunya stated in the 9th house which is the station in life or status in society. The 10th house is the mid-heaven or top of your head, so to speak. It represents all career matters which is a superior expression of work just as the 10th is the advanced house to the 6th house artha trine, accomplishments, achievements, recognition, name, fame, prestige, status and station in life. The 10th house is the summit or apex and represents the highest levels of achievements, the peak of career, superiors, bosses, government, favour from the government, businesses,

32

enterprise, ventures and corporations and companies. Relationship of the self with the government, dignitaries, authority figures, royalties, bosses and superiors are defined by the 10th house. The 10th house defines people holding high position, rank and status and powerful people, politicians, top people, authority, high status and bourgeoisie, leaders, main or significant persons, famous people, prominent and eminent people in the industry, superiors and bosses, entrepreneurs and businessman, the government, dignitaries, representatives of the government or ruling party ie all people represented by significations of the Sun. The Sun is at its peak at noon time when the two hours move to the 10th house and is at its summit of its powers. The Sun is dignified in the 10th house. Whether the accomplishment is considered great or not, surely the achievement would receive public acknowledgement and great publicity. The 10th house is the last of the Kendra or angular houses 1, 4, 7 and 10th and the most powerful of the lot although the Lagna is deemed the main and most important. Besides sleeping, we spent a greater portion of our lives in our careers and many lives are defined by their careers. While the 10th house defines our career, the 6th demonstrates our service and work provided to others. A career may not necessarily involve great accomplishments but some careers are defined by dignity, respected positions, good name and eminence despite the lack of achievements. Witness the role of royalties today, Chairman, honorary positions in corporations, directorships and one will understand why some people attain great heights despite the lack of accomplishments – this can be explained by the fortified 10th house but a rather weak 6th house. Thus, there will be little actual work as seen from the 6th house but recognition, name and fame from the 10th house. Some receive “datukships” and awards despite having contributed no benefit to society but to themselves. The 10th sign of the Kalapurusha Capricorn is symbolized by the goat climbing gradually to the summit of the mountain (in biblical terms it is Moses climbing Mount Sinai to deliver the ten commandments) ie the bureaucrat or corporate man who will work hard in his career to reach the lonely top. Capricorn is a hardworking sign with passion for success, achievement, status and recognition and a singular sense of career-mindedness. They can be aloof, reserved, cold and detached in their career focus and can sacrifice much for career success. One of the rare bhavat bhavam meaning of the 10th house is adopted children because the 10th is the 6th from the 5th house and the 6th signifies relatives who do not have blood ties to the native. The 10th being the furthest house from the 4th house also indicate life in a foreign country. Summary of 10th house – career, profession, vocation, name, fame, recognition, achievement, accomplishment, title, awards, rank, status, station, prestige, power, publicity, eminence, well-known, renown, reputation, superiors, bosses, position of power and authority, position of status and rank, height of achievement, leadership, government, dignity, respect, top positions, top dog, authority, significance, prominence, business, enterprise, entrepreneurs, companies Body parts of the 10th house are knees, kneecap as defined by the 10th Kalapurusha sign of Capricorn.

33

10th house adjectives include career minded, status conscious, accomplished, renowned, famous, eminent, preeminent, well-known, public, prestigious, reputable, reputed, powerful, authoritative, dignified, leading, excellent, outstanding, brilliant, bright, respectable, significant, main, salient, essential, prominent, enterprising, top, governmental, high ranked, bureaucratic, ambitious, aspiring, titled, recognized, Jobs related to the 10th house include government workers, politicians, businessman, entrepreneurs, directors, powermongers, bureaucrats, corporate man, authorities, publicist, managers. The 10th is not antithetical to the 11th as a profession provides income and the 10th supports the 11th. The 10th however is very achievement oriented and career conscious for the self and may be detrimental to the friendship and teamwork activities of the 11th house. 11th bhava – bhava of universal consciousness ie Rahu and Saturn lords of Aquarius the 11th sign The 11th house is called the house of labha or gain because the 11th is the 12th negation to the 12th house of loss and expenses. The 11th bhava is the derivative 2nd house of the 10th house, thus it is the resources of the government or treasury, the wealth of the boss, the income of the profession and the gain of the self. The 11th house is the last of the karma houses of 3, 7 and 11th and it is the house of satisfaction and fulfillment of desires. In contrast to the next house of 12th house which signifies loss, the 11th is the house of gain and fruition of hope. Thus, the 11th house is also the house of aspiration, ambitions and hopes, dreams and desires, and multiplies the faith and belief seen in the 9th house. Since the 11th is an auspicious house and an upachaya house (improving house), any linkages to the 11th house usually indicates success and fulfillment of desires. Thus, in any horary chart, the presence of a link to the 11th house indicates the likelihood of fruition of the querent’s hopes. The sextiles of 3 and 11 as also upachaya houses define the support of the chart. The 3rd is the younger sibling while the 11th is the elder sibling and both siblings or brothers are seen as brotherhood or fraternity which assist to support the self as Lagna. The 3rd house signifies relations, neighbours, contracts any form of immediate support while the 11th represents network of friends, supporters and well-wishers who will assist the endeavours of the self in contrast to the 12th signification of secret underminers, backstabbers and negation. Thus, both these houses serve to support and bring up the self as Ascendant/Lagna with the 11th house being an elder sibling providing early support while the 3rd house being a younger sibling providing latter support thus forming the concepts for the multiplicity and supportive links of 3rd and 11th between house cuspal sublords. The 11th house is very society and communal oriented because of its impact on society. The 11th house talks about merging into the masses, being part of consensus and forming excellent teamwork and networking. Like the Kalapurusha 11th sign of Aquarius, the 11th house represents all community efforts,

34

social work, public welfare, friendship, networking, humanitarian work, Rotaract and interact clubs, places of socializing and interaction, group efforts and teamwork, camaraderie, accolades and rewards received from society for one’ social service and contributions to society, beneficial acts to society. The 11th house has an infectious and contagious effect usually disseminating the personal to the societal. The 11th house concerns the group, team effort, teamwork, communal activity, clubs, organizations, associations and fellowships. The focus here is on group activity and camaraderie. The 11th house is the reflection of the 5th house of playfulness – thus, the camaraderie and feelings of fellowship are strong in terms of group playfulness and “hi-five” gesticulations. Aquarius is the sign of the humanitarian who pours the medicinal waters or ether breath of life from the pitcher of bottomless depths to all. The pot of plenty or cornucopia also indicates fulfillment of desires and acquisition of plenty – Jupiter is the main karaka being the planet of abundance and gain. Aquarius is the symbol of the scientist who innovates and invents for the good of humanity. Friendly to a cause, socially inclined, social fighter, fighter for human rights, Amnesty International, beneficial and beneficent, Aquarians endeavour to improve the lot of humanity and not just for themselves. Group effort, teamwork, camaraderie and coordinated interaction are an important component of success because they believe that in the long run, benefitting society will benefit them and teamwork can bring success far greater than solo effort like the ants and termites building colonies. The Aquarian medicinal waters are important to a prashna question of recovery from disease. Should the 11th house (or 5th house) be linked to the Lagna via the sublord or the Lagna sublord is posited in either the nakshatra or sub associated with the 11th house (or 5th house), then the querent or subject of ailment will recover from the disease. The 11th house is the 6th from the 6th house and is a derivative house of sickness, the 11th is the 12th negation to the 12th house of hospitalization and the 11th house is a reflection of the 5th house which is the medicinal cure or negation to the 6th house of disease. The 11th house applying bhavat bhavam logic is your children’s spouse as 5th house 7th, mother’s death as 8th from the 4th , boss wealth as 2nd from 10th which is your income and government Minister being a reflection house of the 5th. A strong house implies fulfillment of life’s desires and ambitions. Natives who have fortified 11th house are satisfied people who derived contentment from their personal ambitions and often play positive roles in society and social work. The converse of satisfaction and fulfillment of desires is selfish greed and avarice in grasping all opportunities for self-gain. As the derivative 12th negation link to the 12th house, the 11th house implies gain, success, fulfillment and satisfaction of the self in denying the 12th house significations of loss, defeat, sabotage and dissatisfied state, all qualities of Saturn as the karaka of the 12th house. Summary of the 11th house – elder sibling, support, well wishers, group, teamwork, society, community, social service, public welfare, humanitarianism, networking, multi-level marketing, friendship, camaraderie, socializing, clubs, fellowships, ambitions, aspirations, hopes, fulfillment of desires, satisfaction,

35

gain, income, science and innovation, rewards and accolades, contagion, infection, greed, self-satisfaction Body parts of the 11th house include legs, shin and calves of the legs. 11th house adjectives include supportive, teaming, communal, social, beneficial, welfare, humanitarian, networking, friendly, sociable, fraternal, brotherly, aspiring, fulfilling, desirable, satisfying, contagious, infectious, greedy, self indulgent, hoarding, Jobs related to the 11th house include multi level networkers, social workers, humanitarians, group coordinators. The 11th negates the 12th because the 11th is the house of gain, income and profit while the 12th is the house of loss, expenses and wastage. The 11th promotes, rewards and recognizes the self in community while the 12th estranges, alienates and denounces the self in community. 12th bhava – house of self undoing, resignation and withdrawal, a difficult house as it is “undermining” The 12th house is called the house of vyaya or loss. Thus, the 12th house signifies expenses, debilitation, diminution, wastage, sacrifice, self-undoing and sleep being the loss of consciousness, anonymity or loss of identity and to a lesser degree sex because of the loss of semen and bodily fluids (sex is 5th house activity per se). Other unique forms of loss are donation and charity as giving away, dieting as loss of fats, fasting as loss of food and eating, investment and deposit as initial loss of money for hope of future gain. The 12th bhava is the 2nd most feared bhava after the 8th bhava principally because it is the house negating the Lagna or self. So, literally, the 12th house is the house of self-undoing, self destruction, elements secretly undermining the self, backstabbers and ill-wishers and hidden big enemies. This idea of “undermining” forms the concept of the 12th link of negation or denial in bhava cuspal interlinks, the exception being the Lagna does not undermine or negate the 2nd house because the 2nd house is the house of resources which supports the Lagna. The 12th house has, alike the 8th house, many negativities namely Saturnine in nature namely confinement, limitations, secret and covert acts, loss, waste, expenditure, self denial, austerity, asceticism, reclusive, dissidence. The 12th house is a difficult house and presages all forms of difficulty not necessarily self-induced but the circumstances can make it so. Thus research, hidden enemies, wastage, high expenses, losses, limits, confinement, denial and reclusiveness can be debilitating and tough on the individual. While the research undertaken as a 9th house affair is smooth going with authorities and sources helping the native, the 12th house research is often painstaking, tough, singular and pioneering with little or iota of assistance from external sources simply because the sources for research is scarce. Despite these negative qualities, the 12th house raises the hope of renewal as it is the house prelude to the Lagna or rebirth. Thus, it is symbolically the

36

resurrection, reinvigoration and reinvention. Of course, in reality nobody would want to go through suffering to emerge with wisdom except for religious and fanatical martyrs, selfless reformers and people who are willing to sacrifice in the belief for the greater good. The 12th is the last of the water element houses and triumvirate of moksha houses which indicates secrecy, stealth and covert acts done in private and solo. The 12th house is secretive because it is behind the Lagna, the 8th is secretive because it is obscured and obscuring, the 4th is secretive because it is the house of inner secrets of the inner heart, the inner sanctum and the private residence – they are all hidden because they are water houses. Retaining the depth and contemplative aspects of the water element houses, the 12th is a research house and is the puram to the akam of 9th house’s research signification. It is also the house of sleep being the house of collective unconsciousness and when we sleep, we connect with the collective unconscious. The bed comforts and creature comforts associated with sleep is also the domain of the 12th house. However, the sexual act is part of the 5th house being an act of pleasure and carnal sense gratification and being placed in an akam house firmly places the sexual act as a natural and instinctive act of “being” rather than a strenuous striving act of “becoming’. Therefore, we must distinguish the creature comforts of sleeping with the sensual pleasures of sex. A strong 12th house and a weak Lagna coupled by a fortified 6th and 10th house usually indicate a person who achieves a lot but receives hardly any recognition and accolades. This is because the 12th house can confer anonymity and invisibility on the native. Such natives may be in exile or alienated from society and have become unknown or persona non grata. They can submerge themselves in the crowd and become part of the masses keeping low profile and a shadow existence. They are often the bizarrely individualistic and eccentric recluses and hermits of society who become anti-social misfits with unconventional behaviour and iconoclastic ideas. The 12th house retains a strong Saturnine quality as the last house of the chart and synonymous with Saturn as the outermost planet in the solar system, although in the Kalapurusha 12th sign, Jupiter’s Pisces defines the finality. Both these planets are the natural karaka of the 12th house. Being a “malefic” house, the negative qualities of Saturn and Jupiter are manifested in loss and spendthrift wastrel tendencies respectively. Excessive loss and over-spending is a marked attribute of the 12th house. The converse of loss and extravagant over-spending is investment and deposit which is signified by the 12th house because there is an initial parting and loss element in the present involved in investment and deposit with intention for future return of investment and deposit monies with incremental gain or profit. As the negation house of the self, the 12th indicates self-denial, austerities and asceticism, conservativeness, prudence, simplicity and self-inflictions and self tortures. There are qualities of self-sacrifice, penance, self-inflicted pain and in the extreme, self-flagellation and immolation pervading in this house. Witness the ancient Indian practice of widowers burning themselves alive when they lose their husbands and the penance practices of the ascetics, sannyasins and sadhus of India. Poverty was and still is glorified in the mahabharat or land of India.

37

Of course, all forms of suffering are not necessarily self-inflicted but circumstantial. Imprisonment, exile, asylum, alienation, separation, detention, arrest, hospitalization, caught in a trap could be self imposed or the consequence of a person’s downfall or bad luck. Saturn’s limits and disciplinary constrictions are latent in dissolving the person’s karma and evolving inner experiential wisdom. The 12th house is also part of the triumvirate houses of travel 3, 9 and 12th although the 12th places emphasis on the foreign element and immigration aspect. Thus, while the 3rd and 9th talks of travelling to and fro on short and long distances, the 12th house harks of migrating to foreign lands and staying there permanently, a sort of feeling of displacement and alienation is discerned herewith. As the multiplying 3rd link effect of the 10th house, the 12th relates to the second job or part time job. The 12th house is also the derivative 11th house’s resources or friends’ and group’s wealth. The 12th house emphasizes the finality or completion of the journey and the greatest destination of the journey in the eyes of the Hindu philosophy is moksha or liberation from the cycles of reincarnation. The 12th house thus emphasizes spirituality or mystical merging with the divine. The signification of Pisces as the 12th sign of the Kalapurusha with its two fish tied and swimming in opposite directions one in the waters of spirituality and the other in the waters of mundane living indicates the tensions and stress the human vessel has to undergo to merge with the divine or to be enlightened (you cannot reach enlightenment but the journey to the destination is part of the enlightenment “process”). The 12th house signifies migration to alien and foreign lands, exile, alienation because it is the derivative 9th house of foreign travel from the 4th house and the negation to the self as the abode. All forms of confinement, isolation, segregation and alienation of the self as hospitalization, jail, ashram, sanctuary meditation or retreat, monastery are negations of the self and the 12th is also the 4th house to the 9th or the abode of the preceptor. Thus ashrams, monasteries, abbeys, nunneries, meditation retreats are abodes of the 12th s house. Despite, the apparent complications of the 12th house, it is imbued with the greatest of potential, the spiritual potential of awakening. To reach the zenith of spirituality, to escape the cycles of reincarnation and to realize the emptiness of Sunnyata is to invoke the energies of the 12th house, house of the collective unconscious. The 12th house is the Kalapurusha body part of feet which supports our body weight – the foundation of the body. To reach the zenith, we have to realize our foundations. Summary of the 12th house significations – loss, waste, expenses, extravagance, investment, deposit, self-undoing, denial, negation, austerity, asceticism, self destruction, martyr, sacrifice, confinement, prison and escape, foreign migration, alienation, exile, displacement, reclusive hermit, solo and private, covert and secret acts, backroom, behind scenes, backstab, secret undermining, anonymity,

38

sleep, collective unconscious, dreams, research, spirituality and divinity, liberation, enlightenment or moksha. Body parts indicated by the 12th house are ankles and feet. 12th house adjectives include covert, secretive, confined, limited, estranged, foreign, migrated, destructive, sacrificing, denying, negating, austere, reclusive, solo, private, anonymous, researching, spiritual, divine, liberated, escaping, exiled, displaced, losing, wasteful, extravagant, awakened, enlightened. 12th house jobs include researchers, immigration officers, ambassadors, import and export, behind the scenes jobs, strategist, prison and hospital officers, spies, detectives, underground activities, smugglers. The 12th house implies a negation of the self as Lagna as it is the house of self-undoing and self-destruction. The 12th house has the quality of undermining the self whether self induced or caused by unknown enemies or enmities. From this final analysis of the 12th house, one would have noted that the dualistic classification of the houses into odd or akam houses and even or puram houses has certain important implications notably that the akam houses do not have significantly “malefic” houses while the puram houses contain the malefic or dusthana houses of the 8th and 12th, the conditional dusthana house of the 6th, the impediment of the 4th and 10th and only one beneficial puram house to the Lagna, namely the 2nd house. This also seems to imply the wholesomeness and “superiority” of the akam houses over the puram houses which seem nothing but troublesome to the akam houses or akam signification of living things.