A month or two back I was introduced to Vedic Astrology through Richard Houck’s The Astrology of Death, a fascinating book. I moved on to read his Digital Astrology which led to me searching the web and AstroAmerica.com for further books on Vedic astrology. The subject is wide and deep and my first impression of it was “Wow, this is the Arabs on steroids!”. If you’ve spent any time grumbling over the calculation of planet dignities and almutens using the Medieval/Arabic methods hold on to your hats as there is an absolute explosion of Vedic techniques for measuring every facet of planet, house, sign and chart strength and not only for the radix but for a multiplicity of derived charts as well.
If you’ve only studied modern astrology you may be surprised to discover that harmonic charts are nothing new, nor are planetary patterns in the signs and houses. Think Vedic astrology doesn’t use aspects? Think again. Think they have no use for Lots or Parts? Think again. Even my cursory review of the subject has turned up age old techniques relating to all these areas. Yet, they still have the same problems Westerners have: how do you know exactly when an event will happen? They don’t appear to have anything akin to Western Primary directions, Secondary, minor, or tertiary progressions; relying for the most part on transits and various releasing systems, the main one being the Vimsottari Dasa which is very similar to the Firdaria of Persian astrology. And just as Hellenistic, Arab, Medieval and modern astrologers argue and quibble over the basics of astrology, Vedic astrologers argue and quibble over many of the traditional techniques. What I’ve found to be so intriguing is where the two schools, Western and Vedic, appear to both mesh and diverge.
Tropical vs Sidereal Zodiac
Of course, the main difference is the actual zodiacs used; Westerners favour the tropical zodiac, measured each year from the spring equinox and Vedic astrologers favour the sidereal zodiac; ironically, this is also measured from the spring equinox each year and then an ayanamsa is applied. The ayanamsa is basically an adjustment for precession and there are almost as many ayanamsa’s as there are house systems in Western astrology! The official or most widely accepted ayanamsa is the Lahiri which pushes the tropical zodiac back 22° 27′ 55″ as at January 1, 1900. Corrections for later years add roughly 1° for every 72 years so the adjustment for January 1, 2000 is 23° 51′ 11″. This puts the two zodiacs in synch at around 293 AD, approximately the same time Ptolemy decided to fix the 0 Aries point to the spring equinox each year.
It may surprise some astrologers to know that Ptolemy was responsible for the tropical zodiac as we know and love it today; prior to his Almagest Babylonian and Greek astronomers used various bright fixed stars to define the positions of the planets and, on occasion, one or other of the equinox or solstice points. The two most popular ascension tables used for measurement purposes, Babylonian System A and System B, placed the spring equinox at what we would call 10 Aries and 8 Aries respectively. System A is believed to be the older of the two systems but both were widely used between roughly 250 BC and 50 AD. It’s not clear if these differences were due to precession adjustments; although it is feasible if they were using a bright fixed star as their reference point.
Westerners tend to believe the tropical zodiac is the real zodiac; however, its validity stems solely from Ptolemy. While his method of fixing 0 Aries at the spring equinox made mapping the sky simpler for astronomers there is no empirical evidence, to my knowledge, proving its superiority over the sidereal zodiac for astrological purposes. Personally, I am finding that the essential dignities and MR of planets shows itself with much more effect in the sidereal vs tropical zodiac. For example, in the tropical zodiac my Sun is at 19 Aries, the exact exaltation degree, yet my life has produced no events in accord with an exalted Sun either in terms of my career (Sun rules 10th), father (Sun as general significator of father) or spouse (Sun exaltation ruler of 7th). In the sidereal zodiac the Sun is in Pisces and much more descriptive of my actual experience with solar matters.
Retrograde Planets
Western astrology universally considers a retrograde planet and any planet slow in motion to be a debilitated or weaker planet. In Vedic astrology, a retrograde planet or a planet slow in motion is a stronger planet; a complete reversal of Western thinking. The Western notion of slowness and retrogradation as a debility is based on the actual motion of the planet; it turns around on itself and is not direct so the events signified are convoluted, tricky and slow to develop. The Vedic notion of retrogradation as a strength is connected to the astronomical fact that a retrograde planet is physically closer to the Earth and therefore more capable of influencing events on Earth; its significations are, presumably, more certain.
Dignities
Both schools use the same rulership and exaltation schemes. Vedic astrologers do not appear to use triplicity or term rulers; they do use decans but I don’t believe they use them as additional rulers (I could be wrong on this as so far I haven’t read much on vedic decans). Vedic astrology also has an additional dignity, moolatrikona. This is somewhat similar to the Hellenistic concept of a planet having a preference for one domicile over another ie Saturn is better (less malefic) in Aquarius than Capricorn; for vedic astrologers, Saturn is moolatrikona in 0 to 20° of Aquarius where his dignity is somewhere between domicile and exaltation strength. Vedic astrologers also measure a planets benefic or malefic tendencies based on whether the planet is moving from its fallen degree to its exaltation degree or its exaltation degree to its fallen degree; something not seen in Western astrology.
While the vedic system does not appear to include triplicity rulers, per se, they do pay a lot of attention to planets ruling signs in trine to the Ascendant (5th and 9th house positions) particularly as they are related to the rulers of the Asc or other angles. This struck me as interesting since Valens spends a good deal of time talking about the triplicity rulers providing support for the life and Morin (who I don’t believe had access to vedic texts) emphasized the 5th and 9th as being important to the life.
Both traditions have techniques for gauging the friendship or enmity between various planets but Vedic astrologers have carried it much further having a well-defined method for determining planetary friendship involving natural friendship and temporary friendship. For example, they consider the Sun and Jupiter to be natural friends but if Jupiter is in the 8th from the Sun it becomes a temporary enemy making its effects, with regard to the Sun, neutral overall. Natural friendship and temporary friendship can turn planets into great friends while natural and temporary enmity can turn them into great enemies.
Aspects
Vedic aspects are very similar to Hellenistic aspects; like the early Greeks, aspects are primarily sign based and there are no aspect orbs. For example, a planet in Aries opposes any planet in Libra regardless of which degrees the planets occupy in their respective signs. Both schools consider the aspects effect to be stronger the closer the planets are in degrees but whereas the Hellenistic astrologers considered any planets within 3° to be in a true aspect the vedic tradition does not appear to set this as a qualifier. The vedic tradition also includes a condition described as planets at war; it occurs when both planets occupy the same degree, ie Venus at 10 Aries 15 and Mars at 10 Aries 01. The planet with the lower longitude wins the war so in the example, Mars would win the war with Venus. I’m not sure if they extend this concept to aspects other than conjunction.
Vedic astrologers consider two basic categories of aspect: full and partial. For example, all planets mutually or fully aspect a planet in the same sign or in the 7th sign (opposition) from it. They then assign full aspect capability to only three other planets: Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Mars fully aspects any planet in the 4th and 8th sign from its position; Saturn fully aspects any planet in the 3rd and 10th sign from its position, and Jupiter fully aspects any planet in the 5th or 9th sign from its position.
Every planet can also make partial strength aspects: 1/4 (60° and 270°), 1/2 (120° and 240°) and 3/4 (90° and 210°). Note that all these aspects are defined by the same spatial relationships: 3/10, 5/9, 4/8, 7 and the full aspects of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are exceptions in that a square involving Mars is always full (100% not 75%); a trine involving Jupiter is always full (100% not 50%) and for Saturn, a sextile measured in the order of the signs is always full (100% not 25%) and a square measured against the order of the signs, is always full (100% not 75%).
The full and partial aspects also apply to signs; a planet in the 4th sign can aspect the 10th sign from its position even if no planet is in the 10th (the Greek astrologer Paulus also discusses aspects in this manner, saying a planet that does not aspect a sign has no part in the affairs of the sign). The overall strength of aspects is measured in a technique called Drik or Drig Bala and a theory of Planetary Rays for measuring the combined effects of all aspects in the chart.
Houses
Vedic astrologers, for the most part, use whole sign houses, just as the early Greeks did. They place much more emphasis on the Ascendant and Ascendant ruler (very similar to Morinus’ approach) and appear to have no concept of an MC/IC axis. The middle of a sign/house is considered to be its strongest point. If I’ve read things correctly, there has been a movement, in the last century, to the use of equal houses but it does not appear to be part of the original tradition.
Nodes
Vedic astrologers pay alot more attention to the nodes and the nodal axis than Western astrologers; there appears to be quite a bit of literature on the topic and the nodes, for the most part, are treated as shadow planets which are just as real and capable of producing effects as planets.
Yogas
This is perhaps the most intriguing and confusing aspect of all vedic astrology. Yoga essentially means combination and there is a long history involving the study and definition of planetary combinations in vedic astrology. B. V. Raman details some 300 important combinations, all gleaned from earlier scriptures. In one sense, they remind me of the combinations listed in Firmicus but vedic astrologers have taken them much further, giving each combination its own name, definition and expected result; however, like the combinations in Firmicus, I get the sense that they cannot be applied literally, instead, one must always consider the overall effect of the radix itself and then judge how the various yoga’s are apt to play themselves out. As an example, the Kemadurma yoga is defined as “no planets in the 2nd or 12th from the Moon” giving the result that the native will be “dirty, sorrowful, doing unrighteous deeds, poor, dependent, a rogue, a swindler”. But we are warned that this yoga is cancelled if there are planets in the angles.
While we are not given specific cancellation conditions for all the yogas it is only sensible to expect that not every yoga found in a chart will play out to full effect. And indeed, Mr. Raman tells us we must know (a) the good and evil planets in the chart, (b) the inherent strengths of the planets (Shad Bala) and (c) the residential strengths of the planets (the percentage of results a planet is capable of giving based on its position in a house) if we are to accurately predict the effects of particular planetary combinations (yogas) in the life of the native.
Timing
Western astrologers rely on primary directions, progressions, directions, profections, firdaria, return charts, and transits for timing events; vedic astrologers mainly rely on dasas and transits. There is an entire technique, known as Ashtakavarga, used solely for dealing with the effects of transits. It is far more sophisticated, and complicated, than anything available in the transit literature of Western astrology although it does not appear to have been used extensively by the average vedic astrologer due to the amount of time the calculations take. Neither group appears to agree, within their own schools, on which timing methods provide the most accuracy.
Summary
The above only skims the surface of both Vedic and Western traditional astrology. People often describe Vedic astrology as event based and Western astrology as character or personality based. I find this to be far from the truth. Yes, modern Western astrology has become personality based in the last 100 years or so but prior to 1900 this was not the case, it was event based. And neither Vedic nor non-modern Western astrology is solely event based, both traditions have, as an intrinsic part of their teachings, a spiritual element emphasizing the character, ethics and morals of the astrologer and humanity as a whole.
At first glance, I had thought the Vedic system had it over the Western for the sheer mass of technique; in retrospect, taking into account all the progression systems in the Western tradition along with midpoints, uranian astrology, etc, the two are probably on equal footing. The large store of techniques is both a boon and a bane to the subject; the greatest problem being that regardless of what is said about a chart and the actual events that manifest in a life, one can always, in hindsight, find a technique to explain the event. Which, essentially, makes all astrological techniques moot.
Richard Houck was of the opinion that a select mix of Western and Vedic techniques provided the most effective timing for future events and that the final proof of any technique was in “successful forward forecasting“. I’m inclined to agree with him. The examples in his books certainly appear to indicate that a blending of the two schools will lead to more accurate overall forecasting but it isn’t the first book on astrological technique that has looked promising; is it the last? Who knows, but I’m willing to give his methods a go, first by testing a variety of charts and second by attempting some forward forecasting. We’ll see how it goes.