The Principle of What is Seen From the Earth

[Khoo Hock Leong]

Hi

In this post I want to discuss two aspects of Vedic based on the above principle. One is Planetary War and the other is Planetary Positions in Houses (ie. whether in the first few degrees of the House or in the middle of the House it is stronger, when it is in angles, when it is in Dig Bala etc.).

Some westerners who practise Vedic Astrology put forward this principle (but I am not sure whether this is a principle practised by the ancient sages as well).

The principle is that when a feature of Vedic can be seen from the Earth, that feature assumes doubly importance. If the feature cannot be seen, then it is not so important or that the phenomenon can be better explained with another more basice featue of Vedic. Given the fact that the ancient sages have not telescopes etc., this feature is important to them; they constantly observe the sky.

PLANETARY WAR
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Let's take Planetary War. As you know this is a contentious topic. Some Vedic astrologers say the planet with the lower longtitude wins, some say the higher longtitude, some use the latitude, some include Rahu and Ketu and some don't. In my earlier post on this (a reply to a fellow Jyotishian post in this forum), I said that based on Hitler's chart, it seems that the planet with the lower longtitude should win. In fact to be accurate, one should take both the latitude and longtitude of the planet and compute its position as seen from Earth (taking into account Earth's curvature) and see whether the planet is occluded by the other. If it is, it loses the Planetary War.

(But to simplify things, most of us use the lower longtitude principle and it gives a good gauge of how much the planet with the higher longtitude is occluded and thus loses the Planetary War).

Rahu and Ketu cause Lunar and Solar eclipses during the Full Moon and New Moon respectively. When it conjuncts one of the other non-luminary planets of Mars, Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury, the said occlusion cannot be observed (correct me if I am wrong). It thus cannot participate in a Planetary War with another non-luminary planet.

STRENGTH OF PLANET BASED ON POSITION IN HOUSES
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There is a Yoga which says planets are weak when placed in the last few degrees and first few degrees in a sign. This was discussed in one of the posts in the Blog. It was mentioned by Mr. Vaughn Paul about him knowing a friend who has Mercury in the last few degrees of Virgo and the planet was not weak. In this case Mercury is exalted and planets when in the last few degrees can be Atmakaraka as well.

My reason for bringing this up is that for phenomenon not observable from Earth, sometimes a Vedic feature (like a Yoga in the above example) can be more fully explained by more basic Vedic fundamentals (like placement of planets in signs and the planets as temporal significators).

But planets in angles and in dig bala are a different story. Although it is debatable whether these are basic principles of Vedic or not (I would say dig bala yes but not planets in angles), both can be observable from Eath, One can point using our hands which direction the planet is in when it is on angles or dig bala. These features would assume double importance. Planets are especially strong in angles and dig bala but may not be that strong on the cusp of other non-angular Houses.

Note : With regards to the non-angular Houses, there are two opposing camps. Based on an Equal House System, Systems Approach to astrology would say they are strong as they are the Most Effective Point (MEP). Another camp of Vedic astrologers say planets in the middle of the House are stronger than those on the edges.

Regards

Hock Leong

[Khoo Hock Leong]

Hi

If anyone can confirm that Rahu or Ketu cannot occlude a planet when in close conjunction, it would be welcomed.

All other replies are also welcomed.

Regards

Hock Leong

[Khoo Hock Leong]

Deleted

This post is a reply to another post under the Planets, Signs and Nakshatras sections under the Title : Determining the Strength of Houses - The Higher Octave Principle.

Regards

Hock Leong