Start here · प्रवेशिका Praveshika, “the entrance”
Jyotish Praveshika: your first hour of Jyotish
Six short lessons take you from “what is a birth chart?” to reading the first three things in a real one. No background needed, and nothing to sign up for.
- What a birth chart is8 min
- The 12 signs10 min
- The 9 planets10 min
- The 12 houses10 min
- Two ways to draw a chart10 min
- Your first reading10 min
Lesson 1 · about 8 minutes
What a birth chart is
A birth chart (kundli or janma kundali) is a map of the sky at the moment and place you were born. It records two things: where each planet stood against the zodiac, and which part of the zodiac was rising on the eastern horizon.
The zodiac is the belt of sky the Sun, Moon and planets travel through. Jyotish divides it into 12 signs of 30° each, and measures it against the fixed stars. This is the sidereal zodiac.
Western astrology uses a zodiac tied to the seasons instead. The two have drifted apart by about 24°, so most people’s planets fall one sign earlier in Jyotish. If you have always been told you are a Taurus, your Vedic Sun is probably in Aries.
Lesson 2 · about 10 minutes
The 12 signs
Each sign (rashi) has an element, a nature, and a ruling planet. The ruler matters most: whenever a sign is involved in a reading, you will follow its ruling planet to see how that part of life works out. Select a sign.
Lesson 3 · about 10 minutes
The 9 planets
Jyotish works with nine grahas, “those that seize”: the Sun and Moon, the five visible planets, and Rahu and Ketu, the two points where the Moon’s path crosses the Sun’s. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are not used.
Each graha stands for certain people and things in life, and each is naturally gentle (a benefic) or harsh (a malefic). Select a planet.
Exalted: the sign where a planet is at its strongest. Debilitated: the opposite sign, where it is weakest.
Lesson 4 · about 10 minutes
The 12 houses
The signs and planets say what; the houses say where in your life. The first house is the sign rising at birth, the ascendant (lagna). The rest follow in order, one sign each.
Select a house on the chart, or a group of houses below it. The groups are some of the first things a reader checks: planets in the angles (kendras) and trines (trikonas) are well placed; the 6th, 8th and 12th (dusthanas) are difficult.
Lesson 5 · about 10 minutes
Two ways to draw a chart
You will meet two chart styles. In the North Indian chart the houses stay still: the 1st house is always the top centre diamond, and the numbers written in it are signs (1 is Aries, 12 is Pisces). In the South Indian chart the signs stay still: Pisces is always top left, and the ascendant is marked in whichever box it falls.
Both say exactly the same thing. Choose an ascendant and watch how each chart changes.
Lesson 6 · about 10 minutes
Your first reading
Every reading starts with the same three questions. Which sign is rising? Where is its ruler? Where is the Moon? Here they are, answered for a real chart: Albert Einstein, born 14 March 1879 in Ulm, at a time recorded on his birth certificate. Step through.
That is a first reading. A full reading goes on to ask how strong each planet is, which planets aspect which houses, whether the divisional charts confirm the promise, and when the planetary periods (dashas) bring it to life. Those are the twelve chapters of Jyotish Alankar.
Test yourself
Praveshika quiz: 10 questions
Where next
Prefer reading to clicking? The same method is set out step by step in How to read your birth chart.