Example Chart — Children Analysis (D7): Mercury AD = 1st Girl, Venus AD = 2nd Girl, 3rd Child Very Unlikely (Ketu+Moon+Saturn = Abortion Risk); Ishta Devata = Chamundeshwari (Saturn+Mars in D20 Capricorn = Tamasic Warrior Deity); Dharma = Sponsor Sri Lanka Education; Pranayama: Correct Diaphragmatic Breathing First

Children — Saptamsa (D-7)

D-7 lagna is 16°11' Cancer. Cancer is an even sign, so the houses of children are counted backwards.

First Child — a Girl, Jupiter–Mercury, December 19, 2005

The reference house: the 5th counted backwards from Cancer is Pisces. Jupiter is there alone, at 13° Pisces.

Boy or girl:

• Pisces is even, but Aquarius, Pisces, Gemini and Cancer are reversed in the odd/even count. By the standard rule Pisces, with Jupiter alone in it, points to a boy. That is what she expected.
• Take Jupiter's longitude as the lagna of the first child: the 1st house runs from 13° Pisces to 13° Aries. Mercury at 6°15' Aries is inside it. (Mercury is not in Pisces and not debilitated — he is in Aries, but in the 1st house from Jupiter.)
• Mercury is a neutral planet. He can show a boy or a girl. "It is not a clear case of a boy, and when there is a Mercurian influence it can end up being a girl."
• The antardasha was Mercury's, so Mercury is pronounced. The teacher expects a strong Mercury in the daughter's own chart.
• Other influences on Jupiter's position: Venus has a half aspect; Moon and Saturn have three-quarter aspects.

Why Jupiter–Mercury:

• Jupiter is lord of the sign of the first child.
• Mercury looks to be in the 10th (Aries), but by longitude from the D-7 lagna he is in the 9th house — the 5th counted backwards, the reference for the first child. He is in the "1st house" of the first child.

Tithi Pravesha of 2005:

• Hora lord: Mercury. The birth fell in the Venus dasha of the year.
• In the TP saptamsa Venus is 5th lord but in the 12th. Count backwards instead: the house of the first child is the 9th, Virgo. Its lord Mercury is at 11°58' Capricorn. Take that point as lagna.
• Venus at 17° Capricorn is in the 1st house from Mercury — the 5th lord in the 1st.
• Simplest reading: 5th lord Venus and 9th lord Mercury are together. A Raja yoga, good for children.
• This TP chart changes 4 minutes later or 12 minutes earlier, so it does not narrow the birth time.

Second Child — a Girl, Jupiter–Venus, October 1, 2008

The reference house: Capricorn. Its lord Saturn is at 6° Sagittarius. Take 6° Sagittarius as the lagna of the second child.

Boy or girl: Capricorn by itself would say boy. But Moon and Ketu are in the 1st house from Saturn. "Ketu and Moon — it's a girl."

Why Venus antardasha:

• Venus hardly aspects Saturn. He sits almost on the cusp of the 8th house from Saturn.
• The 3rd and 8th houses from the child's lagna — not from the native's lagna — can give the child. "See some more examples and you will find the 1st, 3rd, 8th and 11th are seen."

Tithi Pravesha of 2008:

• Hora lord: Mars. The birth fell in the Jupiter dasha of the year.
• TP saptamsa lagna is 7° Gemini. The house of the second child is the 7th, Sagittarius. Its lord Jupiter, at 29° Taurus, stands for the second child.
• In the TP rasi Jupiter is in lagna — the Putra-karaka in lagna, so his dasha shows auspicious developments.

Will There Be a Third Child?

The first child came from Pisces and the second from Capricorn. A third has to come from Scorpio.

• To reach Scorpio the count crosses Sagittarius, where Saturn, Ketu and Moon sit. "Usually you do not cross Rahu and Ketu unless there is a strong planet next to them" — a strong Jupiter there, or Jupiter's aspect. Here there is none.
• Scorpio is empty. Its lord Mars is strong (own sign) but he is with Mercury, not with Jupiter. Mercury is not a fertile planet.
• Scorpio has two lords, Mars and Ketu. Ketu is the stronger. Take Ketu (9°–10° Sagittarius) as lagna: Moon is in the 1st house, Saturn is not. Again a girl.
• From Scorpio, the lord Ketu is in the 2nd house with Moon and Saturn. That combination in the 2nd suggests abortion.
• Dasha: the mahadasha lord Jupiter owns Sagittarius, so there is some chance. Ketu antardasha is over and Venus is at its end. The Sun antardasha: Sun is in his own sign but in the 9th from Ketu and no friend of Ketu — not a great chance. The Moon antardasha has some chance, since Moon is in the 1st house. But Moon–Saturn–Ketu is the combination, and Jupiter is not there to protect it.

"I cannot rule it out, but there is very little chance that there will be a successful third pregnancy which will result in a child."

• Even if they try, the likely result is an abortion. If not, it may again be a girl, and her aim is a boy.
• "She has two nice girls. I think she should be happy. That is my advice."

Ishta Devata and Spiritual Potential — Vimsamsa (D-20)

Not the Navamsa

• Her reasoning: Ketu is 12th from Atmakaraka Jupiter in the navamsa (Jupiter 8° Pisces, Ketu in Aquarius), so Ganesha.
• The teacher: that is not the chart for this. The 12th from Atmakaraka, showing the deity who takes you towards moksha, should be seen in the Vimsamsa, the chart of spirituality.

The 12th from Atmakaraka in D-20

1. Atmakaraka is Jupiter. In D-20 he is at 12°14' Aquarius.
2. Mercury, also in Aquarius, is above Jupiter's longitude (26°), so he is in the 1st house from Jupiter, not the 12th.
3. In Capricorn, Saturn is at 23° — above 12°, so he is in the 12th house from Jupiter. He is the only planet there.
4. From Aquarius, Saturn is also lagna lord and 12th lord.

Which Deity

• According to Parashara, Saturn shows Vishnu. But this Saturn is not associated with Mercury and is not in a benefic sign. Capricorn is a malefic sign. That gives deities like Kali, Durga, Chandi. The text gives no guideline to pick one.
• Modifying influences: Mars at 16°41' Gemini aspects Saturn closely (graha dṛṣṭi, his 8th aspect). Debilitated Venus in Virgo also aspects him (the partial trinal aspect, close by degree).
• Mars gives a warrior look.

"Mars and Venus aspecting Saturn might be something like Chamundeshwari, Chandi — basically a warrior form of the Divine Mother, a tamasic form."

• Advice: learn the Chandi Path, or be initiated into a Chamunda mantra. "More appropriate than doing Ganesha or Vishnu or anybody else. That will help her the most."

Spiritual Potential

Read in D-20 (Cancer lagna):

• Saturn is 7th and 8th lord in the 7th house — a clear maraka, "and that is very good for spirituality". Saturn dasha should be good for spiritual progress.
• Mercury and Jupiter are in the 8th house.
• She does a sadhana already — meditation rather than rituals. Mars, in the 12th house, could make her do rituals, but no Mars period is running. "Not everybody needs to do rituals. This is a meditation chart."

Drik Dasha

• Now: Leo dasha. "It is okay."
• Libra dasha comes about when Saturn mahadasha starts. Aquarius is then taken as lagna; the lagna lord is in the 5th. "Good, nothing great."
• Capricorn dasha, about 2021–2028: Taurus is taken as lagna. Mercury and Ketu are in lagna — Ketu is the karaka of spirituality. The 12th lord is in the 12th (Mars in Aries), always a good combination. A good dasha for spiritual life.
• By Vimshottari those years are Saturn mahadasha with Venus, Sun and Moon antardashas. The Sun is particularly good: in D-20 he is in the 9th house with Rahu and Ketu.

Pranayama and Health

Why Pranayama

• Saturn is a very positive planet in the Vimsamsa. In the rasi chart he is in the 8th house with the Sun (Gemini).
• The teacher's feeling: her breathing may not be right, or there may be some lung-related problem.
• Jupiter dasha is not bad for health. Saturn is in the 8th, so his dasha may give health problems. Starting now may let things go smoothly.

Right and Wrong Breathing

• Right: breathing in, the lungs expand downward and push the diaphragm down, and the stomach comes out. Breathing out, the stomach is pulled in, the diaphragm goes up, the lungs contract. More air comes in and the oxygen is absorbed.
• Wrong: a protruding stomach is thought unhealthy, so people make an effort to keep it in. The diaphragm is trained the wrong way. On the in-breath it is pulled up and the stomach goes in, which restricts the air.

"You do not get enough oxygen. So you are always struggling."

• With enough oxygen a few breaths a minute are enough. Without it one breathes more often, and the muscles that work the lungs work extra hard.
• "This is not just theory" — he has seen it in many people.

The Prescription

1. Find someone who can train her well in pranayama. Before any pranayama, correct the breathing.
2. Then daily pranayama: about 10 minutes of Kapalabhati and 5 minutes of Anulom Vilom.
3. Then meditate. "That will increase the efficiency of her meditation."

Dharma Guidance

Her question: any dharma-related activity she should be doing?

• Navamsa (the dharma-aṁśa): the 9th lord Mercury is in the 10th house (Cancer, from Libra lagna).
• Dasamsa (the karma-aṁśa): the 9th lord is again Mercury, again in the 10th house.
• In both he joins dharma with karma. Some Mercurian karma is right for her.
• Mercury's navamsa is a Manushya navamsa. Planets in the dharma-aṁśa are in Deva, Manushya or Rakshasa navamsas: Deva is sattvic, Manushya rajasic, Rakshasa tamasic. "I am not saying you should do tamasic things" — a planet in a Rakshasa navamsa makes the right dharma one of dealing with tamasic things. Here it is rajasic things, and of Mercury.
• Mercury shows libraries and education. Help a library, a university, a college — some academic place. Or sponsor the education of some children back in Sri Lanka.

"If she can sponsor the education of some children back in her motherland, that will be very good karma for her. That will be the right dharma for her."