Planetary Aspects (Drishti): Which Planet Looks at Which House

A planet influences not only the house it sits in but distant houses too. This influence is called drishti, or aspect. "Who is looking at this house?" matters as much as "who sits in it?".

The general rule: the seventh

Every planet casts a full aspect on the seventh house from its own position. Saturn in the first aspects the seventh; Jupiter in the tenth aspects the fourth. Planets in opposite houses aspect each other.

Special aspects of three planets

Count the planet's own house as the first. Jupiter in Aries aspects Leo with its fifth aspect, Libra with its seventh and Sagittarius with its ninth.

The effect of an aspect

The nature of the aspecting planet sets the result:

• Jupiter's aspect protects. A house or planet it aspects loses much of its weakness. The saying goes that the guru's glance is nectar.
• Saturn's aspect brings delay, pressure and responsibility. What it aspects does not come easily, but with work it lasts.
• Mars's aspect brings heat and hurry: energy, argument, cuts and the risk of accidents.
• Venus and Mercury usually aspect gently and helpfully.
• The Sun brings authority and ego; the Moon emotion and public contact.

When a house receives both benefic and malefic aspects, they are weighed together, and most astrologers give Jupiter's aspect the greatest weight.

Partial aspects

Parashara also gives partial aspects: a quarter on the third and tenth, a half on the fifth and ninth, three quarters on the fourth and eighth. For Mars, Jupiter and Saturn certain of these become full, which is why they are called special aspects. Everyday work usually counts only full aspects.

Sign aspects (Jaimini)

In the Jaimini system signs, not planets, aspect. Movable signs aspect all fixed signs except the one next to them, fixed signs aspect all movable signs except the adjacent one, and dual signs aspect each other. It is a separate system; ordinary chart reading uses Parashari aspects.

An example

Take a Cancer lagna with Capricorn in the seventh. Saturn in the tenth (Aries) casts its tenth aspect on the seventh (Capricorn): a hint of delayed marriage or a duty-bound relationship. If Jupiter sits in the lagna, its seventh aspect also falls on Capricorn and softens much of Saturn's pressure. Aspects are read together like this to complete the picture.