Knowledge base
Articles on astrology
Start here to learn astrology or to understand your horoscope and birth chart better. Each article gives the classical rules, tables and examples in plain language.
The basics
The Twelve Signs: Element, Nature and Ruling Planet
Aries to Pisces in one table: each sign's element, its nature (movable, fixed or dual), its ruling planet and the date the Sun enters it in the sidereal zodiac.
The Nine Planets (Navagraha): What Each One Signifies
Sun to Ketu: what each of the nine grahas stands for, which are benefic and which malefic, their weekdays, and how long each takes to cross a sign and the whole zodiac.
The Twelve Houses: What Each House of a Chart Means
First to twelfth: what each house of a birth chart covers, which are kendras, trikonas and dusthanas, and what to check when judging a house.
What Is the Lagna (Ascendant), How It Is Found, and Why Birth Time Matters
The lagna is the sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. It changes roughly every two hours, so a few minutes can change the chart.
How to Find Your Vedic Sign: Moon Sign, Ascendant and Sun Sign
In Vedic astrology your sign (rashi) is the sign the Moon occupied at your birth. Here is how to find it, and what to read if you do not know it.
Tropical and Sidereal: What the Ayanamsha Is, and Why Your Newspaper Sign Differs
Because the earth's axis slowly wobbles, the tropical (Western) and sidereal (Vedic) zodiacs are now about 24 degrees apart.
Planetary Dignity: Exaltation, Debilitation, Moolatrikona and Own Sign
Where each planet is exalted and debilitated, its exact degree of highest exaltation, its moolatrikona and own signs, and what neecha bhanga (cancellation of…
Planetary Friendship: Which Planet Is a Friend or Enemy of Which
Parashara's table of natural friendships, how temporary friendship is worked out, and how the two combine into the fivefold relationship.
Planetary Aspects (Drishti): Which Planet Looks at Which House
Every planet aspects the seventh house from itself, but Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have special aspects.
Nakshatras, panchang and muhurta
The Panchang: How Tithi, Vara, Nakshatra, Yoga and Karana Are Worked Out
The five limbs of the almanac, how each is calculated from the Sun and Moon, how long each lasts, and why the Vishti (Bhadra) karana is avoided.
Tithi: The Thirty Lunar Days, Their Nature and Their Uses
The thirty tithis fall into five groups: Nanda, Bhadra, Jaya, Rikta and Purna. Which tithis suit auspicious work, which are avoided, and what Ekadashi, Amavasya and…
The 27 Nakshatras: Names, Lords, Sign Spans and Padas
Ashwini to Revati: the degree span of each of the twenty-seven nakshatras, which sign it falls in, its Vimshottari dasha lord, its gana and its four padas, in one table.
The Bengali Panjika and Bangabda: Months from Sankrantis, and Why Bangladesh and West Bengal Differ
Why Bengali months are solar, how they follow the sankrantis, how the Bangabda year is counted, and where the one-day gap between Bangladesh's revised calendar and West…
What Is Rahu Kaal, When Is It, and Why Avoid Starting New Work
Each day the time from sunrise to sunset is split into eight parts, and one of them is Rahu kaal.
Choosing an Auspicious Time: Abhijit, Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda, Gulika and Amrita Yoga
Which parts of the day are favoured and which avoided: weekday tables for Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika, how the Abhijit muhurta is found, and what has to be matched…
Solar and Lunar Eclipses: Why They Happen, What Astrology Says, and the Sutak Rules
Why eclipses happen only at new and full moon, the role of Rahu and Ketu, the kinds of eclipse, when sutak begins, and why an eclipse not visible from a place is held to…
Transits and dashas
Transits (Gochar): Which Planet Is Good in Which House from the Moon Sign
Horoscopes are built on transits. Counting from the moon sign, the houses in which each planet gives good results and where it brings pressure, and what to keep in mind…
Transit Vedha: When a Good Transit Is Blocked
A planet in a good house loses its benefit if another planet stands in its vedha house.
Saturn's Sade Sati and Dhaiya: When It Starts, How Long It Lasts, and How Much to Fear It
Saturn's transit of the twelfth, first and second houses from the moon sign is sade sati; the fourth and eighth are dhaiya.
Rahu and Ketu: What the Shadow Planets Are, What They Mean, and Where They Are Now
Rahu and Ketu are the two points where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's path. Why they always move backwards, their main results by house, reading them as an axis, a…
Retrograde and Combust Planets: Moving Backwards and Lost in the Sun's Glare
Why planets appear retrograde, how often and how long each one is retrograde, what to manage during Mercury retrograde; and what combustion is, how close to the Sun each…
Vimshottari Dasha: How the 120-Year Cycle Is Calculated
The first dasha from the birth nakshatra, the years of each planet's major period, how the balance at birth is worked out, how sub-periods are calculated, and the main…
Ashtakavarga: Measuring Transits in Points
What ashtakavarga is, the difference between the planets' individual charts and the combined sarvashtakavarga, the fixed total of 337 points, how many points make a…
Reading charts, matching and remedies
How to Read a Birth Chart: From Recognising the Chart to Judging It
How to recognise the North Indian, Bengali (East Indian) and South Indian chart formats, where each house is, and the order in which to examine a chart.
Functional Benefics, Malefics and Yogakarakas for Each Lagna
The same planet helps one lagna and harms another. The functional benefics, malefics and yogakarakas of all twelve lagnas by the rules of Laghu Parashari, in one table,…
The Main Yogas of a Chart: Gajakesari, Pancha Mahapurusha, Raja Yoga, Dhana Yoga and Kemadruma
In astrology a yoga is a special arrangement of planets. Definitions and results of the most talked-about yogas, and the rules for testing how far a yoga will actually…
The Navamsha (D9) and the Sixteen Divisional Charts
Dividing each sign into nine gives the navamsha. How it is worked out, what vargottama means, its role in marriage and in judging a planet's real strength, and what the…
Marriage Matching: The Ashtakoota System and the 36 Points
From varna to nadi: the eight factors of ashtakoota, how many points each carries and what it measures, how many points are acceptable, nadi and bhakoot dosha, and why…
Manglik Dosha: What It Is, Who Has It, and How Much to Worry
A person is called Manglik when Mars is in the first, fourth, seventh, eighth or twelfth from the lagna, Moon or Venus.
Gemstones: Which Stone for Which Planet, on Which Finger, and When Not to Wear One
The full navaratna table (planet, gem, substitute stones, metal, finger, weekday), the real rules for choosing a gem, cautions about blue sapphire and hessonite, and…
Numerology and name letters
Numerology Basics: Root Number, Destiny Number, Name Number and Compound Numbers
How the root and destiny numbers come from the date of birth, which planet rules each number, the letter values of Cheiro's Chaldean system, what compound numbers are,…
Name-letter Astrology: How the First Letter of Your Name Points to a Sign
Each of the 108 nakshatra padas has its own sound. The first sound of a name gives its pada and sign, the traditional method for people who do not know their birth time.