Week 1 · Unit 5 · The Chart's Language
Milestone 3 of 3: Dignity, and the relationships between grahas
Friends, Enemies, and the Ratio of Effects
The last layer of a planet's condition — who it is sitting with, and how much of its promise actually arrives.
Assumes you have done: Unit 4 — dignity, and the Mūlatrikoṇa signs in particular
Why this matters
Dignity told you how a planet gets on with the sign it occupies. This unit tells you how it gets on with the planet that owns that sign, and then — in two remarkable verses — how much of a planet's effect actually materialises in each condition. That second part is the first time BPHS gives you a way to compare two placements numerically, and it is the seed of everything Week 5 does with weighing evidence.
Learn
You now know what a planet is, which nine there are, who each one is, and how well it sits in the sign it occupies. One thing is missing, and it is the thing that turns a list of placements into a chart: planets are not alone in there.
Two kinds of friendship
Parashara gives two relationship systems, and the difference between them is the point.
Natural relationships (verse 55) are fixed. They are derived from each planet’s Mūlatrikoṇa sign by a counting rule, so they are the same in every chart ever cast. Take the planet’s Mūlatrikoṇa sign; count to the 4th, 2nd, 12th, 5th, 9th and 8th from it; the lords of those signs are its friends. Add the lord of its exaltation sign. Everything else is an enemy — and any planet that ends up on both lists, because it owns two signs, is neutral.
Try it once with the Sun and it becomes concrete. The Sun’s Mūlatrikoṇa is Leo. Fourth from Leo is Scorpio, ruled by Mars. Second is Virgo, Mercury. Twelfth is Cancer, the Moon. Fifth is Sagittarius, Jupiter. Ninth is Aries, Mars again. Eighth is Pisces, Jupiter again. And the Sun exalts in Aries, so Mars a third time.
Moon, Mars, Jupiter: friends. Venus and Saturn, who rule none of those signs: enemies. Mercury shows up once through Virgo — but Mercury also rules Gemini, which is not on the list, so Mercury has features of both and lands neutral.
Temporary relationships (verse 56) are the opposite: they exist only in this chart. Two planets are temporary friends if one sits in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th from the other. Anywhere else and they are temporary enemies.
There is a small surprise in there. Two planets in the same sign are each in the first from the other, and the first is not on the friendly list. Planets sitting together are temporary enemies. Sharing a house does not make you friends, which is a piece of realism worth noticing.
Putting them together
Verses 57 and 58 combine the two into a five-grade scale, and the combination is about as simple as it could be:
| Natural | Temporary | Compound |
|---|---|---|
| Friend | Friend | Extreme friend |
| Friend | Neutral | Friend |
| Friend | Enemy | Neutral |
| Enemy | Neutral | Enemy |
| Enemy | Enemy | Extreme enemy |
It is the compound grade you use. And note the practical consequence: because the temporary half changes with every chart, a pair of planets that are natural enemies can end up merely neutral here, and a pair of natural friends can end up neutral too. The fixed layer sets a baseline; the chart adjusts it.
The Ratio of Effects
Then verses 59 and 60 do something unusual for a classical text. They put numbers on the hierarchy.
A planet in exaltation gives its effects fully. In Mūlatrikoṇa, three quarters. In its own sign, a half. In a friend’s sign, a quarter. In a neutral’s sign, an eighth. In its fall, combust, or in an enemy’s sign — nil.
And then the clause that most readers skip: inauspicious effects are quite the reverse with reference to these houses.
Read those together and the scale stops being about good and bad. A planet in exaltation delivers fully, whatever it delivers. A malefic in exaltation is fully malefic. The last sentence of verse 60 is Parashara stopping his own proportions from being read as a virtue scale, and it is the sentence that makes the previous unit’s warning about exalted Mars a source position rather than a modern gloss.
Two cautions about using this.
The proportions are not a calculator. There is no operation in BPHS that takes “Venus at 25%” and “Mars at 75%” and produces a result. What you have is a ranking with rough magnitudes, which is enough to say that one placement substantially outweighs another and not enough to say by how much.
And the zero is not a zero. Debilitated planets manifestly do things — BPHS spends chapters on what they do. Take nil as the bottom of a scale, stated emphatically, rather than as a literal claim of no effect.
The shadow points, briefly
The last stretch of Chapter 3, verses 61 to 74, computes a set of points that are not planets at all.
There is the Dhūma chain: add 4 signs 13°20′ to the Sun to get Dhūma; subtract Dhūma from 12 signs for Vyatīpāta; add 6 signs for Parivesha; subtract from 12 signs for Indrachāpa; add 16°40′ for — and here is the trap — Ketu.
That is not the graha Ketu. It is a fifth computed point that happens to carry the same name, in the same chapter, fifty verses after the graha Ketu was introduced in verse 10.
Then Gulika, found by dividing the day into eight parts, one for each of the seven lords in sequence starting from the day’s ruler, and the eighth lordless. Saturn’s portion is Gulika. Whatever degree is rising during that portion is Gulika’s longitude. Alongside it come Kāla, Mṛtyu, Yamaghaṇṭaka and Ardhaprahara, by the same division. Some traditions call Gulika “Mandi” and some distinguish the two; BPHS here uses the terms together.
And Prāṇapada, from verses 71–74, computed from the Sun’s position and the time elapsed since sunrise.
You are reading all of this for orientation. Software computes these points, has done for decades, and no reasonable practice computes them by hand. What you need out of this stretch is: these points exist, they are derived rather than observed, they attach to the Sun and to the clock rather than to the sky, and Chapter 27 is where they are interpreted.
Where Week 1 leaves you
You cannot yet read a chart. You do not know what a house is, or what a planet can see, or what any of this means for a life.
What you can do is describe any planet completely: what it is, what it signifies, what condition it is in, and how it stands with the planets around it. That is a real skill and it is the foundation everything else is built on. Week 2 gives you the frame that these planets sit inside.
Read BPHS
This is the source itself. The teaching above prepares you for it; it does not replace it.
त्रिकोणात् स्वात्-सुख-स्वान्त्यधीधर्मायुः स्वतुङ्गयाः ।
सुहृदो रिपवश्चान्ये समाश्चोभयलक्षणाः ॥ ५५ ॥
- Natural Relationships: The lords of the signs which are the 4th, 2nd, 12th, 5th, 9th and the 8th from the Mooltrikona sign of a planet and the Lords of the exalted sign of each planet are the friend of a particular planet. Lords of the signs other than these are his enemies. The planets which have got the features of both (of a friend and of an enemy) are neutral to the said planet. These should be taken as the natural relationships of the planets.
दशबन्ध्वाय सहज स्वान्त्यस्थास्ते परस्परम् |
तत्काले मित्रतां यान्ति रिपवोऽन्यत्र संस्थिताः ।।५६ ।।
- Temporary Relationship or Horoscopic Relationships: The planets Sun etc. situated in the 10th, 4th, 11th, 3rd, 2nd or the 12th from another are mutual friends (or friends to that planet). If they are situated in other than these places they act as his enemies.
तत्काले च निसर्गे च मित्रं चेदधिमित्रकम् ।
मित्रं मित्रसमत्वे तु शत्रु: शत्रुसमत्वके ॥ ५७ ॥
समो मित्ररिपुत्वे तु शत्रुत्वे त्वधिशत्रुता |
एवं विविच्य दैवज्ञो जातकस्य फलं वदेत् ॥ ५८ ॥
57-58 Compound Relationship: The planet who is friendly both naturally and temporarily, is called extremely friendly. On the other hand, if he is friendly in one place and neutral in another he is friendly. If he is enemy in one place and neutral in another, he is enemy: If he is enemy in both ways he has extreme enmity with the planet concerned. The astrologer should predict the effects of the native after considering the reltionship in this way.
स्वोच्चे शुभं फलं पूर्ण त्रिकोणे पादवर्जितम् ।
स्वक्षेऽर्ध मित्रगेहे तु पादमात्रं प्रकीर्तितम् ॥ ५९ ॥
पादार्थ समभे प्रोक्तं शून्यं नीचास्शत्रु |
तद्वद्दुष्टफलं बूयाद् व्यत्ययेन विचक्षणः ॥ ६० ॥
59-60 Ratio of Effects: When in his exaltation, a planet gives fully good effects, in his Mool Trikona sign, three fourth or 75%, in his own sign half or 50%, in his friendly sign one fourth or 25%, in the sign of his neutral planet half of one fourth or 12.5% and when he is in his fall, or is set or is in enemy house, it should be predicted by the wise astrologer that his effects are nil. Inauspicious effects are quite reverse with reference to these houses.
त्र्यंशाढय्विश्वभागैश्व चतुर्भे: सहितो रविः ।
घूमो नाम महादोषः सर्वकर्मविनाशकः ॥ ६१ ॥
घूमो मण्डलतः शुद्धो व्यतीपातोऽत्र दोषदः ।
सषड्भोऽत्र व्यतीपातः परिवेषोऽतिदोषकृत् ॥ ६२ ॥
परिवेषश्च्युतश्चक्रादिन्द्रचापस्तु दोषदः ।
वित्र्यंशात्यष्टिभागाढयश्चापः केतुखगोऽशुभः ॥ ६३ ॥
एकराशियुतः केतुः सूर्यतुल्यः प्रजायते ।
अप्रकाशग्रहाश्चैते पापा दोषप्रदाः स्मृताः ॥ ६४ ॥
61-64 Non-Luminous Upagrahas: (Sub planets) From the addition of 4 signs 13 degrees and 20 kalas (minutes) to the Sun's longitude at the moment of birth is obtained the all inauspicious Dhooma. When Dhooma is reduced from 12 signs we arrive at Vyatipata which is also inauspicious. By adding 6 signs to Vyatipata is known the exact position of Parivesha which is extremely inauspicious. And the deduction of Parivesha from 12 signs gives the exact position of Indra chapa. When 16 degrees 40 minutes are added to Indra chapa we arrive at the position of Ketu. And when 1 sign is added to Ketu we arrive at the longitude of the Sun at the time of birth. All these planets are known as planets devoid of splendour, they are malefics and cause affliction.
सूर्येन्दुलग्नगेष्वेषु वंशायुर्ज्ञाननाशनम् ।
इति धूमादिदोषाणं स्थितिः पद्मासनोदिता ॥ ६५ ॥
- Effects of Luminous Upgrahas: If these 5 non-luminous Upgrahas, Dhooma and others combine with the Sun and the Moon or are situated in the Ascendant they destroy respectively the natives dynasty, longevity and wisdom. It is in this way that Lord Brahma, the Lotus born has stated their position.
रविवारादिशन्यन्तं गुलिकादि निरुप्यते ।
दिवसानष्टधा भक्त्वा वारेशाद् गणेयत् क्रमात् ॥ ६६ ॥
अष्टमोंऽशो निरीश: स्याच्छन्यंशो गुलिकः स्मृतः ।
रात्रिमप्यष्टधा कृत्वा वारेशात् पञ्चमादितः ॥ ६७ ॥
गणवेदष्टमः खण्डो निष्यतिः परिकीर्तितः ।
शन्यशो गुलिकः प्रोक्तो रव्यंशः कालसंज्ञकः ॥ ६८ ॥
भौमाशो मृत्युरादिष्टो गुवंशो यमघण्टकः ।
सोम्यांशोऽर्धप्रहरक: स्वस्वदेशोद्भवः स्फुटः ॥ ६९ ॥
66-69. Calculation of Gulika etc.: From the Sun etc. up to Saturn is determined the periods of Gulika and others. Day duration divided by 8 gives the seven planets commencing from the Varesh (the day on which Gulika and others are to be considered) onwards. The 8th portion is lordless. The portion ruled over by Saturn is termed (called) as Gulika. Similarly, the night duration, when divided by 8 gives the portions of the seven planets commencing with the 5th House from the Varesh (the week day on which gulika etc. are to be considered). Here also the 8th portion is Lordless. and Saturn's portion is Gulika, Sun's Kalvela, Mars Mrityu, Jupiter's Yamaghantaka and Mercury's Ardhaprahara.
गुलिकेष्टवशाल्लग्नं स्फुटं यत् स्वस्वदेशजम् ।
गुलिकं प्रोच्यते तस्माज्जातकस्य फलं वदेत् ॥ ७० ॥
- Gulika's position : The degree ascending at the time of Gulika's portion will be the longitude of Gulika at a given place. From this longitude of Gulika are to be estimated the effects of a particular nativity.
Generally learned astrologers are of the view that Gulika and Mandi are one and identical. But according to **'Sarvartha Chintamani'** these are different. Gulika is called (शनीपुत्र) (offspring of Saturn) while Mandi मान्दि is called 'यमपुत्र' (offspring of Yama). There is a verse to this effect 'शने सतुस्यादगुलिकोथ मान्दि यमाऽत्यजऽप्राण हारोतिपापी' Here Mandi has been spoken of as yamatmaja (Yama's son) Pranhara (Destroyer of Prana or being) and Atipapi (extremely malefic.) Like Gulika, he is also an imaginary or a shadowy planet. The method of knowing him is as below. The Dhruvanka of Ravi has been regarded as 26, of Moon as 22, of Mars 18, of Mercury 14, of Jupiter 10, of Venus 6, and of Saturn 2. The Dinmana or day duration of that day the Mandi of which is to estimated is multiplied by the Dhruvanka of that day and then the obtained number is divided by 30, that which is arrived at in this day is the Ishta (Time) of Mandi. If the ascendant is known at this time, that will be the Mandi Lagna, (Mandi Ascendant).
In 'Phala Deepika', a famous book from the South, there is stated that the Dhruvanka of the Mandi of the night time will begin from the 5th day of the day of birth, that is, if the birth is in the night of Sunday, the Dhruvanka will be taken as the 5th from the Sun and thus it will be 10th.
Mandi Dhruvanka:
| Day | Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| Day | 26 | 22 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 2 |
| Night | 10 | 6 | 2 | 26 | 22 | 18 | 14 |
The Tamil Version of JataKalanKaram indicates the signs of Exaltation and Debilitation and the own signs of these Upagrahas (Subplanets). These are :
| Upagraha | Exaltation | Debilitation | Own Sign |
| Dhooma | Leo | Aquarius | Capricorn |
| Vyatipata | Scorpio | Taurus | Gemini |
| Parivesha | Gemini | Sagittarius | — |
| Indra chaap | Sagittarius | Gemini | Cancer |
| Upketu | Aquarius | Leo | Cancer |
| Gulika | — | — | Aquarius |
| Yamaghantika | — | — | Sagittarius |
| Ardhaprahara | — | — | Gemini |
| Kala | — | — | Capricorn |
| Mrityu | — | — | Scorpio |
भांशपादसमैः प्राणैश्चराद्यर्कत्रिकोणभात् ।
उदयादिष्ट कालान्तं यदर्भ प्राणपदं हि तत् ॥ ७१ ॥
स्वेष्टकाल पलीकृत्य तिथ्याप्तं भादिकं च यत् ।
चरागद्विभसंस्थेक भानौ युङ् नवमे सुते ॥ ७२ ॥
स्फुटं प्राणपदाख्यं तल्लग्न ज्ञेयं द्विजोत्तम ।
लग्नाद् द्विकोणे तुर्ये च राज्ये प्राणपदं तदा ॥ ७३ ॥
शुभं जन्म विजानीयात्तथैवैकादशेऽपि च ।
अन्यस्थाने स्थितं चेत् स्यात् तदा जन्माशुभं वदेत् ॥ ७४ ॥
71-74. Calculation of Pranapada: From the Pramana (Mana) of the 1/4th part of 36° or 90 or 15 pala, if the Sun is situated in movable sign etc, from the Sun to the signs in the order of Trikona (1.5.9 Houses) from the sunrise to the Ishta Kala, that Lagna is called Pranapada.
Convert the time from the sunrise to the Janameshta Kala (to the time of birth) into palas and divide it by 15. The resultant sign etc, if the Sun is in movable sign, be added to the Sun and that which is yielded is called Pranapada. If the Sun be in a fixed sign then in the 9th sign from that (i.e. by adding 8 signs to the already obtained Pranapada), and if he be in a dual sign, then in the 5th sign from that (or by adding 4 to the already obtained Pranapada) is yielded Pranapada.
If the Pranapada happens to fall in the 2nd, 5, 9, 4, 10 and 11th from the Natal Ascendant, then the birth will be auspicious and the native should be understood as a happy one, otherwise his birth is to be understood as inauspicious.
Practice
Verse 55 says a planet's natural friends are the lords of the 4th, 2nd, 12th, 5th, 9th and 8th signs from its Mūlatrikoṇa, plus the lord of its exaltation sign. Work out the Sun's natural friends.
Write your answer down before opening the explanation.
Show the answer and why
Answer: The Sun's Mūlatrikoṇa is Leo. Counting from Leo: 4th is Scorpio (Mars), 2nd is Virgo (Mercury), 12th is Cancer (Moon), 5th is Sagittarius (Jupiter), 9th is Aries (Mars), 8th is Pisces (Jupiter). Plus the lord of the Sun's exaltation sign, Aries — Mars again. So Moon, Mars and Jupiter are friends; Mercury appears once via the 2nd. Venus and Saturn, ruling the remaining signs, are enemies.
Mercury is the interesting case and the one to think about. Some traditions read Mercury as neutral to the Sun rather than friendly, because verse 55's own final clause allows for planets carrying features of both. Where a planet's lordships place it on both sides of the count, it lands as neutral — and Mercury, owning Gemini as well as Virgo, is exactly such a case. Do the counting yourself rather than taking a printed table's word for it; the table is downstream of this rule, not the other way round.
Source: BPHS 3.55
What is the difference between a natural relationship and a temporary relationship?
Write your answer down before opening the explanation.
Show the answer and why
Answer: A natural relationship holds in every chart, because it derives from the planets' Mūlatrikoṇa and exaltation signs. A temporary relationship holds only in this chart, because it derives from where the two planets actually sit relative to each other.
This is a genuinely important distinction and it has an obvious practical consequence: you can memorise the natural relationships once and use them forever, but you must recompute the temporary ones for every chart you open. Verse 56's rule is the recomputable half — planets in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th from each other are temporary friends; the rest are temporary enemies.
Source: BPHS 3.55–56
Two planets are natural enemies but temporary friends. What is their compound relationship?
Write your answer down before opening the explanation.
Show the answer and why
Answer: Neutral.
Verses 57–58 give a straightforward combination: friend + friend gives extreme friend; friend + neutral gives friend; enemy + neutral gives enemy; enemy + enemy gives extreme enemy. Enemy + friend, one from each side, cancels to neutral. The scheme has five grades in the end — extreme friend, friend, neutral, enemy, extreme enemy — and it is the compound grade, not the natural one, that you carry into a judgment.
Source: BPHS 3.57–58
Verses 59–60 assign proportions: exaltation gives full effect, Mūlatrikoṇa three quarters, own sign a half, a friend's sign a quarter, a neutral's sign an eighth, and debilitation, combustion or an enemy's sign, nothing. Is that a formula you should compute with?
Write your answer down before opening the explanation.
Show the answer and why
Answer: No. It is a stated ordering with rough magnitudes attached, and it should be used to rank placements, not to arrive at numbers.
Two reasons. First, Parashara supplies no way to combine these fractions with anything else — there is no arithmetic in the text that takes 25% of one planet and 75% of another and produces a result. Second, the last clause says effects are nil in debilitation, and that is plainly a rhetorical zero rather than a literal one: debilitated planets in real charts do things, and BPHS itself goes on to discuss what they do. Read the ratio as Parashara telling you the shape of the hierarchy, with unusual precision for a classical text, and you will use it correctly. Read it as a calculator and you will produce confident nonsense.
Source: BPHS 3.59–60
In verses 61–64 Parashara describes a chain of computed points beginning with Dhūma. What is the fifth one called, and why is that a problem?
Write your answer down before opening the explanation.
Show the answer and why
Answer: It is called Ketu — which is not the graha Ketu named in verse 10.
Same word, two entirely different objects, fifty verses apart in the same chapter. The graha Ketu is the descending lunar node. This Ketu is a point derived by arithmetic from the Sun's longitude, via Dhūma, Vyatīpāta, Parivesha and Indrachāpa. Nothing connects them but the name. This is your first encounter with something that will recur throughout BPHS, and it is worth naming as a general habit: when a term seems to behave strangely, check whether you have two systems using one word before you conclude the text is confused.
Source: BPHS 3.61–64
Apply it to a chart
Chart A — Rama, the teaching chart — A strikingly clean chart from a classical source, followed from Week 1 to Week 13. · about 16 min
Not placed: Mercury, Rahu, Ketu — the source this chart comes from does not say where they go, and nothing has been supplied to fill the space.
| Graha | Sign | House | Degree | Nakshatra | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Aries | 10 | degree not recorded | — | exalted |
| Moon | Cancer | 1 | degree not recorded | — | own sign |
| Mars | Capricorn | 7 | degree not recorded | — | exalted |
| Mercury | — | — | — | — | — |
| Jupiter | Cancer | 1 | degree not recorded | — | exalted |
| Venus | Pisces | 9 | degree not recorded | — | exalted |
| Saturn | Libra | 4 | degree not recorded | — | exalted |
| Rahu | — | — | — | — | — |
| Ketu | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lagna | Cancer | 1 | degree not recorded | — | lord Moon |
Chart A places Jupiter and the Moon together in Cancer. That single fact is enough to run this unit's whole method on, and it is a good example of why relationship matters — two grahas in one sign is where the question always starts.
- Jupiter's Mūlatrikoṇa is Sagittarius. Using verse 55's counting rule, work out Jupiter's natural friends and enemies. Write out the counting, not just the answer.
- Is the Moon a natural friend of Jupiter? Is Jupiter a natural friend of the Moon? Do both directions — the relation is not always symmetrical, and finding a case where it is not is worth more than being told.
- Now the temporary relationship. Jupiter and the Moon occupy the same sign in this chart. Apply verse 56 and say what that makes them, then combine with the natural relation using verses 57–58.
- Saturn is in Libra here, exalted. Libra's lord is Venus. What is Saturn's natural relationship to Venus, and what does that add to the picture that dignity alone did not give you?
- On your own chart: pick the two grahas sharing a sign, or the two closest together, and run the same three steps.
Check your understanding
Answer from memory first. Looking back at the reading before you try turns a memory test into a copying exercise.
Which positions from a planet make another planet its temporary friend?
Write your answer down before opening the explanation.
Show the answer and why
Answer: The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th and 12th from it. Everything else is a temporary enemy.
A useful way to hold it: the planets near it on either side are its temporary friends, and so are the two Kendras above and below. What is left — the 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th — are temporary enemies. Note that a planet in the same sign is in the 1st from the other, and therefore a temporary enemy, which surprises people who assume proximity means friendship.
Source: BPHS 3.56
Why does the course tell you that BPHS does not assign sign lordship to Rahu and Ketu?
Write your answer down before opening the explanation.
Show the answer and why
Answer: Because it does not, and a great deal of modern practice assigns it anyway — usually Aquarius to Rahu and Scorpio to Ketu.
You will meet that assignment constantly, and you may well end up finding it useful. What matters here is that you know it is not Parashara's. This course marks the boundary and leaves the position open: BPHS handles the nodes by the sign they occupy and the planets they join, and it is consistent about that from Chapter 3 through Chapter 36. When a technique requires a lord for Rahu, you are outside BPHS, and you should know that you are.
A chart shows Gulika in the 8th house and you want to know what BPHS says about it. Where do you look?
Write your answer down before opening the explanation.
Show the answer and why
Answer: Chapter 3, verses 66–70 for what Gulika is and how it is found — and Chapter 27 for what it means in a house, which you reach in Week 4.
This is a deliberate split in the text and the course follows it rather than collapsing it. Chapter 3 computes the shadow points; Chapter 27 interprets them. Leaving that loop open for three weeks is slightly uncomfortable and is the honest shape of the material — noting an open forward reference is a skill in itself, and you will do it repeatedly.
Source: BPHS 3.66–70
A planet is exalted, but sits in the sign of a compound enemy. Which matters more?
Write your answer down before opening the explanation.
Show the answer and why
Answer: BPHS does not say. It gives both facts and expects you to weigh them.
This is the honest answer and it is worth sitting with, because it is the first time the course has had to give it. Chapter 3 supplies two measures of condition and no rule for reconciling them when they disagree. Note also that the case is rarer than it sounds — a planet's exaltation lord is a natural friend by verse 55, so the conflict arises only through the temporary relationship. Week 5 gives you Ṣaḍbala, which is BPHS's own attempt at a common scale, and even that does not fully settle it. Your job becomes weighing, not decoding. It starts here.
What you carry forward
Two things grow across the whole course. This unit adds to both.
To your chart-analysis process
- Still no numbered step, but the second half of what Step 8 will eventually ask: a planet's condition is its dignity *and* its relationship to the lord of the sign it occupies.
To your field manual
- Natural relationship (3.55): friends are the lords of the 4th, 2nd, 12th, 5th, 9th and 8th from a planet's Mūlatrikoṇa, plus its exaltation lord. Everything else is an enemy; a planet appearing on both sides is neutral.
- Temporary relationship (3.56): planets in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th from each other are friends; all others, including the same sign, are enemies.
- Compound (3.57–58): friend+friend = extreme friend; friend+neutral = friend; enemy+friend = neutral; enemy+neutral = enemy; enemy+enemy = extreme enemy.
- Ratio of Effects (3.59–60): exalted full, Mūlatrikoṇa 3/4, own 1/2, friend 1/4, neutral 1/8, enemy or debilitated or combust, nil. Use to rank, never to compute.
- "Ketu" in 3.63 is a computed shadow point, not the graha Ketu of 3.10.
By now you should be able to
- Work out a planet's natural friends and enemies from its Mūlatrikoṇa sign
- Work out temporary relationships from two planets' positions in a chart
- Combine the two into a compound relationship
- State the Ratio of Effects and explain what it is actually claiming
- Recognise the Upagrahas, and know which naming collision to watch for