Example Chart (1994, Gemini Lagna, D24 Rectified to Libra): D24 Education Problems (Rahu 5L in 12H + A4 in Dusthana), Ketu Dasha = Education Abroad, D16 Depression (LL + 6L Together), Kantaka Shani — Saturn in 4H/10H from Moon/Lagna & Vijaya Ganapati Mantra

Example chart

Context: a girl who has not been interested in studies from a very young age and wants to give up; it became serious in the last few years. Her parents also ask about "teenage problems". Vimśottarī: Mercury daśā, Saturn antardaśā, about to end (the class is in August 2009; Ketu daśā starts in 2010).

Rāśi chart: Gemini lagna. Mercury, Saturn and Mars in Aquarius (9th). Jupiter in Libra (5th). Sun and exalted Venus in Pisces (10th). Moon in Cancer (2nd). Rāhu in Scorpio (6th), Ketu in Taurus (12th).

Rectifying the D24 Lagna: Scorpio or Libra

The rāśi lagna is not in doubt. At 11:22 the Siddhāṁśa (D24) lagna is Scorpio; less than a minute earlier it is Libra. The same border also moves the D16 lagna from Libra to Virgo.

D24 with Scorpio lagna (11:22):

• 4th lord Saturn in the 8th: not good.
• But 5th lord Jupiter is in the 2nd in his own sign, very strong, aspecting Saturn (graha dṛṣṭi): 5th lord aspecting 4th lord, a rāja yoga.
• Lagna lord Mars is in lagna. Lagna is very strong.
• This is a good education chart with temporary trouble in Mercury daśā or Saturn antardaśā. It does not show a child who never took to studies.

D24 with Libra lagna (11:21) fits. The teacher keeps 11:21.

D24 Analysis — Education (Libra Lagna)

"It is good for spiritual education, because the 5th lord is in the 8th from the 5th. But is it good for material, normal education? Not really. The 12th is the house of giving up. So with the 5th lord being in the 12th house, she will want to give up study."

Rāhu is probably dominating over Saturn. If Saturn can be made to dominate, she can do all right in studies.

Ārūḍhas in D24:

• AL is in Gemini — the material manifestation of her education. Its lord Mercury is in the 12th from it (Taurus), which is the 8th from lagna.
• Saturn is in AL: the image of a slacker, a lazy person.
• A6 and A7 are in AL: A7 is dealing with other people, A6 is obstacles. Many obstacles in this area of life.
• A4 (formal education) is in a dusthāna from AL (Scorpio, the 6th from Gemini).

Daśā Analysis (D24)

Mercury daśā — on the whole not good for education.

• Jupiter antardaśā (2005–2007): not good at all. Jupiter is a pāpī in this chart, and he is in the 8th from Mercury.
• Saturn antardaśā (running): some hope. He is the yogakāraka in a trine from lagna. From Mercury he is the 9th and 10th lord in the 2nd — not the best house for Saturn, but he is still the yogakāraka.
• From AL: the daśā is of the AL lord, badly placed from AL. The antardaśā is of the 8th lord from AL sitting in AL. She does not build a good image in education in this period. Against that, Saturn is also the 9th lord from AL.
• From A4: the mahādaśā lord Mercury is the 8th lord from A4, in the 7th from it. The antardaśā lord Saturn is in the 8th from A4.

"Daśā and antardaśā both are activating the 8th house from A4. The 8th house from any ārūḍha pada is bad for that ārūḍha. So formal education may even stop in this period."

Ketu daśā (next):

• From lagna it is not good: Ketu is a māraka lord (co-lord of Scorpio, the 2nd) in the 12th.
• From A4 he is the lagna lord in the 11th, in Virgo, a friendly sign. He can act as a catalyst for formal education.
• How to reconcile the two: Rāhu and Ketu in the 12th need not mean loss of education.

"The 12th house shows foreign things. The 12th house in Siddhāṁśa can show education in a foreign land. The 12th house in Daśāṁśa can show work in a foreign land."

Going abroad — D4: Sagittarius lagna. Ketu is the 12th lord (co-lord of Scorpio) and the dispositor of Rāhu, who is in the 12th. He is with Mercury, the 7th lord and bādhaka lord, and has argalā on the 9th house (Leo). Mercury daśā already carried a chance of going abroad — 7th lord with the 12th lord, aspecting the 12th — but Ketu is clearer. "We can't say she will go, but we can say there is a good chance she will go."

Advice: send her away. Staying where she is will be a problem. If she can be sent to India, it is worth it even at the cost of a year in the transition; it can revive her education. From next year, Ketu can help.

Psychological Analysis

The question: are these ordinary teenage problems? The teacher's answer:

• See the girl's chart first for emotional disturbance. If it is not there, see the father's chart for whether he is being over-critical.
• Deśa-kāla-pātra: a child growing up in the US has watched the teenager stereotype on television long before becoming one. The mind is programmed by what it sees. So some trouble in the teens is likely there even without a major indication. The chart tells whether it is ordinary or abnormal.

Rāśi chart (Gemini lagna):

• Lagna lord Mercury in the 9th: an "I am my own boss" attitude.
• He is with Saturn (depression) and Mars (anger): contradictory influences. Sometimes aggressive, sometimes withdrawn, dull, unhappy.
• Saturn is the closer of the two to Mercury, and Mercury–Saturn is running. This is a period of depression. Handle with care.
• The combination is in the 8th from the Moon: mental disturbance, anxiety. She is unsure what she wants.
• Jupiter's 5th aspect on them from Libra is the saving factor.

D16 (Kalāṁśa) — Virgo lagna at 11:21:

• Lagna lord Mercury is in the 6th (Aquarius) with the 6th lord Saturn and the bādhaka lord Jupiter. Lagna lord in the 6th with the 6th lord is a duryoga.
• Rāhu is in lagna. Mercury and Rāhu exchange signs: a parivartana of lagna lord and 6th lord (Rāhu as co-lord of Aquarius).
• In Saturn antardaśā this is not good at all. Rāhu antardaśā would have been bad too. The mind is uneasy, not happy, not focused.

From the Moon in D16 (Capricorn):

• Mercury is the 6th and 9th lord.
• The 2nd from the Moon holds Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter — the 6th lord, the lagna-and-2nd lord, and the 3rd lord. The 2nd from the Moon is the food for the mind. The mind is an empty container; what you put into it decides how happy you are. The 2nd, 4th and 5th from the Moon matter most.
• Lagna lord Saturn is with the 6th lord Mercury: the same pair forms the same combination from lagna and from the Moon.

"Lagna lord and 6th lord together is always internal struggle. She may be unable to express what is going on, but her mental state is not very peaceful."

D30: Saturn and Mercury are in the bādhaka sthāna (the 7th from Gemini lagna), not well placed. The unhappiness of D16 can show up as some sickness.

Ketu daśā: not much more pleasant in itself — Ketu is in lagna in D16. In the rāśi chart he is the 6th lord in the 12th, a viparīta rāja yoga, so a little better than Mercury–Saturn. Much better if she goes abroad.

Saturn on Mercury:

• The Moon is the mind, Mercury is buddhi. Saturn on the Moon: the mind is depressed. Saturn on Mercury: the thinking, analytical ability is depressed. She cannot think clearly. Equally bad.
• Saturn, Rāhu or Ketu with the Moon or Mercury is a bad combination for psychological problems.

"Even though she may have some aggressive traits, they are only on the surface, based on Mars. Internally, she is actually depressed. It is not aggression that is her problem, it is depression."

Vāta: she is lean and tall, a Vāta sign. The lagna lord Mercury is very close to Saturn; Mars is there too, but further off. Saturn antardaśā increases the Vāta, and with it the depression.

To the parents:

• Do not be over-critical or harsh. She is very sensitive, and you do not accuse a depressed person. Be kind and gentle.
• Immigrant parents were the top students of their own countries and expect the same of their children. The child's horoscope may show something else.
• She is, or will be, a dharmic and spiritual person: lagna lord in the 9th, Ketu in the 12th. In D20 the 12th lord Moon is in the 8th, his maraṇa kāraka sthāna — excellent for spiritual potential.
• She will do fine in life: exalted Venus and Jupiter exchange signs between the 10th and the 5th.

Remedies

Propitiation (the teacher corrects himself: Saturn and Mercury are to be propitiated, not strengthened):

"Even if Saturn can be ignored, Veṅkaṭeśvara can be ignored, Vijaya Gaṇapati should not be ignored."

With it, things should be in order from next summer.

Gemstone — asked for because a person without the energy for regular prayer can still be helped by a stone:

Why diamond:

• Rāśi: Venus is the 5th lord (scholarship, emotional stability) and 12th lord (going abroad, which is wanted), exalted in the 10th giving a Mahāpuruṣa yoga, and the AL lord (image, status), though not well placed from AL. He is not combust in rāśi. He is with an enemy and a little weak despite exaltation.
• D24: he is the lagna lord — combust and with the bādhaka lord. Strengthen the lagna lord and education prospers. "If you can make him fight the Sun, he can make her shine in education."
• D9 and D10: he gives a viparīta rāja yoga in both.
• Not a long-term recommendation: good for the next few years, up to ten, to restart the education and give her some standing.

Kaṇṭaka Śani — Saturn's Transit

A student's question at the end of the class, about a transit of her own. It is not about the example chart.

What it is:

• Most people call Saturn transiting the 4th or the 10th Kaṇṭaka Śani. Some apply the name to his transit of any kendra from the Moon.
• Some count from the Moon, some from lagna.

The student's case: Saturn in the 10th from her ārūḍha lagna, the 4th from her Moon, and hitting lagna as well.

• 10th from AL: bad for material status, work.
• 4th from Moon: mental peace gone.
• Lagna: the body; he can give bodily harm.
• "All the three are attacked. That will be a very bad transit."

Remedies:

• Chamakam and Namakam, especially Chamakam. Chanting the Rudram is a great idea.
• Hanumān Chālīsā.
• Praying to Saturn directly: a Śani mantra or a Śani stotra.
• The Mṛtyuñjaya mantra chanted regularly, with "Om Jūṁ Saḥ" added at the beginning and "Saḥ Jūṁ Om" at the end.