Example Chart (Scorpio Lagna 1982): Marriage May 2006 (Rahu-Rahu-Jupiter = Rahu 7L in 7H D9; Tithi Pravesha Year: Exalted UL Lord Mercury in 7H of Its D9); D24 Education: BSc Computer Science 2004 (Mercury 91% on 9H + Rahu/Ketu on A9); MSc 2006 (D24 2nd House Mercury); D7 Critical Weaknesses: Jupiter Debilitated in 8H + Venus in 6H + Moon in 8H (Both Marana Karaka Sthana) + Saturn, Venus, Rahu on Lagna

Case Study — The Chart and the Birth Time (Marriage in D9)

How houses are counted in this case

• The teacher counts each house from the degree of the lagna, not by sign. A planet at a lower degree than the lagna falls one house back from its sign position.
• So in the Saptamsa (lagna 16° Gemini): Venus at 5° Sagittarius is in the 6th house, Moon in Aquarius is in the 8th, Mercury at 15° Leo is in the 2nd, Mars is in the 12th.
• The chart on this page shows whole signs. Read the degrees with it.
• The teacher's software places Rahu about one degree later than the site (about 16°52' Gemini against 15°52'). Three things then look different on the site: in D9 Ketu is in Leo, not with Venus and Saturn in Virgo; in D24 Rahu and Ketu are in Leo, not at 15° Virgo; in D7 Rahu is at 21° Virgo, not 28°.

How much leeway

• Navamsa lagna (Leo) is on the border. 17 seconds later it changes.
• Saptamsa lagna (Gemini) holds from 10 min 17 s earlier to 8 min 46 s later. The sign is safe.
• The longitude also matters because it decides the houses. So the known events are checked.

Which dasha

• Lagna is not vargottama, the 7th lord is not in lagna, the lagna lord is not in the 7th.
• The 10th lord Sun is in the 10th house, so Chaturasiti-sama dasha could apply.
• Vimshottari applies anyway. It is tried first, it works, and the class stays with it.

Marriage: Rahu–Rahu–Jupiter

• Rahu dasha began in September 2005. She married within a year.
• In D9 (Leo lagna) Rahu is the 7th lord and is in the 7th house. A strong indication for marriage.
• Jupiter's pratyantardasha: Venus is debilitated in Virgo with Saturn and Ketu. That lagna is stronger than the lagna itself. From Venus, Jupiter is the 7th lord.
• This reading needs the Leo navamsa lagna. So the time cannot be more than 17 seconds late. It can still be early.

The Tithi Pravesha of 2005

• October 3, 2005. Jupiter is the ruler of the year. The clock time is garbled on the recording; the site finds the tithi return at 8:00 AM, a few minutes before the teacher's software.
• May 18, 2006 falls in Mercury dasha, Mercury antardasha of that year.
• In its Navamsa the Upapada is in the middle of Virgo. Mercury is its lord and is exalted there at 5°16'.
• Lagna is at 24° Aquarius. By sign Mercury looks to be in the 8th. By degree he is in the 7th house.
• From Venus (5°31' Cancer) he is the exalted 3rd lord, in the 2nd house close to the cusp of the 3rd. The 3rd is a Kama trikona, a trine to the 7th. He aspects the 9th from Venus exactly.

"We are used to seeing just the signs and say, oh, Mercury is in the 8th house. We are uncomfortable with it. But he is actually in the 7th house and he is exalted."

• A student proposes a Capricorn navamsa lagna for that year, to make Mercury the 9th lord in the 9th. That needs the birth 12 minutes earlier (10:29). It is tried. Mercury dasha still runs, but Mercury is then in the 8th house. To bring him into the 9th the lagna must fall below 5° Capricorn: about 25 minutes of error in all. The Upapada also changes and Mercury goes to the 12th from it. Rejected. 10:41 stands.

D24 — Two Degrees in Computer Science

Events: B.Sc. in computer science, June 2004 (Mars–Venus). M.Sc. in computer science, April 2006 (Rahu–Rahu).

D24 lagna is 8°24' Sagittarius. It changes sign if the birth is 1.5 minutes earlier. The marriage reading limits only the error forward, so the lagna here could be Scorpio or even Libra. The education has to settle it.

Why computer science for the bachelor's

• A student looks at the 9th lord Sun: Saturn aspects him 100%, Mercury only 38%.
• The teacher: look at the 9th house too, and at A9.
• Jupiter is at 7°51' Leo, the lagna at 8°24'. He is in the 8th house, not the 9th.
• Mercury has a 91% aspect on the 9th house.
• A9 is at 11° Virgo. Mercury owns it and aspects it 64%.
• Rahu and Ketu are at 15° Virgo, in the 1st house from A9.
• Over the 9th and A9 together, Mercury dominates, with Rahu and Ketu. A bachelor's in computer science fits.

Why it ended in Mars–Venus

• The formal education, going to a particular college for a particular degree, is shown by A9.
• From A9 in Virgo: Venus is the 2nd lord in own sign, at 10° Libra. He is in the 1st house from A9, or the 2nd if the time is slightly off. Mars is the 3rd and 8th lord. They are within 8° of each other.
• 2nd and 3rd lords together, like 7th and 8th lords together, is a maraka combination. Venus's antardasha in Mars dasha gave the "death" of this education.

"Normally when we say maraka, you think of it as a bad event. Again, even death: this dies and another thing will start. So, just like that, bachelor's dies and master's starts."

• A9 cares only about that degree at that college. When it is done, it is done. The next degree has its own arudha.
• From lagna the same pair is good for her. Mars and Venus are the 5th and 11th lords together in the 11th: a Raja Yoga, in the house of fulfilment of desire. 5th and 6th lords together: Dhimanta Yoga. She was enriched and recognised with a degree.

Why the master's was also computer science

• Mercury is in the 2nd house, alone. He is at 27°47' Capricorn, the lagna at 8°. Sun and Venus aspect the house, but only Mercury is in it.
• Mercury aspects the 2nd lord Saturn 66.9%.
• The same planet rules the 9th and the 2nd matters, so the master's continues the bachelor's subject. For others the subject changes between the two.

Who started it and who ended it

• It started in Mars–Moon, not in Rahu dasha.
• Moon is at 9° Taurus with the 2nd lord Saturn at 7.5° Taurus.
• Mars aspects the 2nd house 59%, Saturn 84%, and Mercury 92%.
• It ended in Rahu–Rahu. A2 is at 7–8° Pisces. Rahu at 15° Virgo is in the 7th house from A2 and is the 12th lord from it, the lord of giving up. Any malefic in the 2nd or 7th is a maraka.

What this fixes about the time

• Mercury has to stay in the 2nd house. For that the D24 lagna cannot fall below 27°47' Scorpio.
• The software gives 1 min 34 s for the lagna to leave Sagittarius. The further 2°13' is about a quarter as much again: roughly 2 minutes in all.
• With a Scorpio lagna Jupiter becomes the 2nd lord. Saturn as 2nd lord, with Moon beside him and Mars aspecting, explains the master's far better. So the usable leeway is nearer 1 to 1.5 minutes.
• Result: not more than 17 seconds late, not more than 1.5 minutes early. A reasonably accurate time.

D7 — A Very Weak Saptamsa

Saptamsa lagna is 16° Gemini. The question here is only how strong the chart is for children, not the sex of the first child.

The three weaknesses

"So it's mostly Venus, Jupiter, and Moon. Those are the problems."

What is not a problem

• Mars is in Gemini but by degree in the 12th house. He is the 6th lord in the 12th.
• Lagna lord Mercury is in the 2nd house (the 3rd with a small error). Fine either way.
• Sun in Pisces with Ketu, opposite Saturn and Rahu in Virgo. Sun is the 3rd lord, and the 3rd is vitality. But Sun is at 2°41', Saturn in the middle, the nodes at the end of the signs. He is not afflicted.

No relief from Jupiter

• The 5th lord from Jupiter is Venus. He is in the 11th house from Jupiter, which is not bad, but he is not in a friendly sign. Nothing strong there.

"Actually, statically, forgetting dasha, this is a very, very weak horoscope."

The lagna

• Venus and Saturn aspect the Saptamsa lagna, Saturn very strongly. That is the 8th lord and a planet in Marana Karaka Sthana on the lagna. Rahu aspects too.