Chapter 7 · दृष्टि Drishti
Aspects and conjunctions
Planets do not act alone. They influence the houses and planets they look at, and they blend with planets they sit with. This chapter shows how aspects and conjunctions connect the parts of a chart.
- The 7th aspect that every planet casts
- The special aspects of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn
- How conjunctions blend the planets involved
1. How planets look at each other
In Jyotish a planet influences not only the house it sits in but also the houses it “looks at”. This is drishti, aspect. Every planet aspects the 7th house from itself, the house directly opposite. Three planets have extra, special aspects: Mars also aspects the 4th and 8th; Jupiter the 5th and 9th; Saturn the 3rd and 10th.
Aspects are counted inclusively: the house the planet occupies is the 1st.
2. Try it
Choose a planet and the house it occupies. The chart lights up every house it aspects.
3. Conjunctions
When two or more planets occupy the same sign they are conjunct (yuti), and they blend their results. A benefic joining a malefic softens it; a malefic joining a benefic spoils it to a degree. The closer they are in degrees, the stronger the effect. Aspects and conjunctions together are how one part of a chart influences another.
Worked example · Albert Einstein
Who looks at what
Jupiter in the 9th aspects the 1st, 3rd, 5th houses, including the ascendant. Saturn in the 10th aspects the 12th, 4th, 7th. Mars in the 8th aspects the 11th, 2nd, 3rd. And the four planets in Pisces are conjunct, blending their results in the 10th house.
Birth data: 14 March 1879, 11:30 local time, Ulm, Germany; Rodden rating AA (from the birth record), as listed by Astrotheme from Astro-Databank. Positions converted by LotusAstro to the sidereal zodiac (Lahiri ayanamsa, about 22°10′ in 1879), whole-sign houses. One famous chart illustrates a technique; it proves nothing on its own.
Worked example · Indira Gandhi
The Moon and Saturn face each other
The Moon in the 7th and Saturn in the 1st aspect each other directly across the chart. Mars in the 2nd aspects the 5th, 8th, 9th houses, including the Sun and Mercury in the 5th. Jupiter in the 11th aspects the 3rd, 5th, 7th, so it looks at both the 5th house and the Moon.
Birth data: 19 November 1917, 23:11 local time, Allahabad (now Prayagraj), India; source given as her own account (Rodden rating A), as listed by Astrotheme. Positions converted by LotusAstro to the sidereal zodiac (Lahiri ayanamsa, about 22°42′ in 1917), whole-sign houses. One chart illustrates a technique; it proves nothing on its own.
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