Mundane Charts 2005–2007 — Israel, Iraq, Iran Elections, War Potential & Gandanta

Israel — Lunar New Year 2005 Analysis

Data: April 8, 2005, 10:32:37 PM, 2 hours east of GMT, Tel Aviv (34°E46', 32°N04'). This is the year running at the time of the class. Context: Sharon, long known as a hawk, had surprised everyone with a unilateral withdrawal and had just started a new centrist party. Elections were due at the end of March 2006. He was now in hospital after operations on his brain.

Chart and Daśā

• Lagna: Scorpio.
• No conditional daśā applies → Vimshottari compressed to one year.
• Saturn daśā from December 31. Mercury daśā from February 25 to the end of the lunar year.

Saturn Daśā — the Country

• Saturn is the 3rd and 4th lord in the 8th house (Gemini).
• Saturn in the 8th makes you suffer so that you learn the value of suffering, of working hard without comforts. If you do it yourself, good. If not, he forces you with setbacks.
• Not a great daśā.

Saturn and the 10th House — Change of Guard

• Saturn sits in the 11th from the 10th house: argala on the 10th. "Argala is a very conclusive instrument."
• Saturn also has graha dṛṣṭi on the 10th (his 3rd aspect from Gemini on Leo). He wants to influence it.
• Saturn is the planet of sadness, depression and setback, and he is in the 8th.
• Result: a setback to the administration, a slowdown in the official machinery, and a change of guard during Saturn daśā.

Sharon Himself — from L10

• The 10th house is Leo. The 10th lord is Sun, in Pisces. His graha arudha, L10, is Capricorn.
• Take Capricorn as lagna for the tangible leader of the year.
• Saturn is then the lagna lord and 2nd lord, placed in the 6th house.
• As 2nd lord he is a maraka. But he is the lagna lord too: he shows cure of problems, not death because of problems.
• Lagna lord in the 6th: a lot of suffering and obstacles, and they are overcome.

"Because his agenda is lagna, Saturn in the 6th house will help the person overcome the problem."

• The teacher adds that this may or may not be the best technique for one man, since the leader's own chart was not at hand.
• Judgment: a very good chance that Sharon survives, and a very good chance that he is no longer at the helm. A change of leader, and instability over the next couple of months.

Mercury Daśā (from February 25)

• Mercury is a natural malefic here and a functional malefic (8th and 11th lord). See Part 2.
• He sits in the 5th house, the mood of the country.
• A planet whose agenda is changes and suffering, placed in the house of the country's mood: the country will not be in a good mood. Mercury daśā does not look good either.

War in This Year?

• A student asks whether war can be expected in the next six months.
• Neither Saturn nor Mercury brings A6 into play. No tangible war in the rest of this lunar year.

Israel — Lunar New Year 2006 Analysis

Data: March 29, 2006, 12:15:47 PM, 2 hours east of GMT, Tel Aviv.

Lagna

• Cancer, in the first navāṁśa, so vargottama.
• Judge a year the same way as any chart: first the strength of lagna and of the lagna lord.
• Cancer is an auspicious lagna for new beginnings.
• Saturn in lagna. For Cancer or Libra lagna, Saturn in lagna is a Raja Yoga called Simhasana Yoga. It shows consolidation of power.
• But Saturn is the 7th and 8th lord. The 8th lord in lagna gives instability and suffering during the year.
• And Saturn in lagna is in his Maraṇa Kāraka Sthāna.

Maraṇa Kāraka Sthāna (as explained here)

For every planet there is one house where it is not comfortable. Given that job, it struggles and has to work extra hard.

• In this chart both Saturn (lagna) and Rahu (9th) are in Maraṇa Kāraka Sthāna.

Lagna Lord

• Moon is in the 9th house (Pisces) with Sun and Rahu.
• Lagna lord in the 9th gives good protection. More than that, such people are their own boss. The 9th is the house of the boss, the controller. Even as small children they decide for themselves and do not like being told.
• For Israel: during this year Israel will not listen to any other country. It will make its own, very strong decisions.
• But Moon is closely afflicted by Rahu: Sun and Moon are near 15° and Rahu near 10° of Pisces.
• Rahu owns the 8th house (Aquarius). So one 8th lord eclipses the lagna lord and the other 8th lord sits in lagna.

"Lagna is totally hammered by the 8th house. … This is a year of anxiety."

Elections — Mars Daśā

• Two conditional daśās apply: the 7th lord is in lagna (the 72-year daśā) and lagna is vargottama (Shatabdika, 100 years). The teacher uses Shatabdika.
• The year starts March 29; the elections are due around March 28-29. Mars daśā runs when the result comes.
• Mars is in Taurus, the 11th house. For Cancer lagna that is the bādhaka sthāna: the country feels some bādhā.
• Ruling party (10th house Aries as lagna): Mars is the lagna lord in the 2nd. Not great, but he is the lagna lord and has to give them good results.
• Opposition (3rd house Virgo as lagna): Mars is the 8th lord in the 9th. The 8th lord in the 9th ruins fortune. A big disappointment.
• Judgment: if the elections go ahead as planned, the ruling party very likely comes back to power.

War in 2006?

• 6th lord Jupiter is in Libra, so A6 is Leo, the 2nd house.
• Its lord Sun is afflicted by Rahu.
• Mars, karaka for war, has graha dṛṣṭi on A6 (4th aspect from Taurus on Leo).
• So there is some chance. Mars daśā shows a little, but it is a small daśā. The stronger period is Sun daśā, because Sun owns A6.
• Śatru Sahama is checked too. It may not be a full-blown war, but some hostility is possible.

Israel — Lunar New Year 2007 Analysis

Data: March 19, 2007, 4:43:04 AM, 2 hours east of GMT, Tel Aviv.

Chart

• Lagna: Aquarius.
• The 8th lord Mercury is in lagna, as the 8th lord was in 2006. Lagna lord Rahu is there with him. Mercury is near 6° and Rahu near 21°: not close, but the two give a Raja Yoga.
• The 10th house has Jupiter: wise governance.
• Lagna lord Saturn is in the 6th house (Cancer). Good for crushing enemies. There are many obstacles, and they are overcome.

War Indications

• Mars is exalted in Capricorn and has graha dṛṣṭi (7th aspect) on the 6th house and on the lagna lord in it. The karaka for war aspects the house of war.
• 6th lord Moon is in Pisces, so A6 is Scorpio, a sign of Mars. The lord of A6 aspects the 6th house.
• A6, the 6th house and Mars are all tied together.

"If you talk about any war kind of thing for Israel, even compared to the current year and the next year, this year looks like the year."

• Periods by Vimshottari: Saturn daśā (he is in the 6th) and Mars daśā.
• Comparison of the three years: the year running shows no tangible war; 2006 shows some chance of hostility; 2007 shows the strongest chance.

Iraq — Lunar New Year 2005 and 2006

Data 2005: April 8, 2005, 11:32:37 PM, 3 hours east of GMT, Baghdad (44°E23', 33°N20').

Same Chart as Israel, Different Lagna Degree

• Scorpio rises, as in Israel, with almost the same combinations.
• The teacher's first remark: this shows why the divisional charts matter. They have hardly been used so far in these mundane readings.
• The big difference: Iraq's lagna is at 29°54' Scorpio.

Gandanta

• The border between Scorpio and Sagittarius is the border between water and fire. It is called Gandanta.
• The three such borders: Cancer–Leo, Scorpio–Sagittarius, Pisces–Aries.
• One navāṁśa on either side is dangerous. One degree on either side is more dangerous.
• Here it is not even a degree. Six minutes of arc. "It's right on the edge."
• Every year this Gandanta rises for some part of the world. Those areas suffer.

What It Means

• In the independence chart of a country: the country may not last long.
• In a natal chart: be careful. Śānti remedies are needed. If lagna itself is weak, how much can the lagna lord, 9th lord and 10th lord help? It can show early demise.
• In a one-year chart: countries do not die in a year and get born again. It shows death-like, terrible suffering for that year.

"Whatever we see in the news is probably nothing. The country is probably suffering heavily."

2006 and 2007

• 2006: March 29, 2006, 1:15:47 PM, Baghdad. Very similar to the Israel chart.
• 2007: Aquarius lagna again, as in Israel.
• Several Middle Eastern countries get the same lagna. Whatever fortune Israel goes through, the neighbouring countries share. "A couple of years don't look too good for that area."
• To tell the countries apart, go to the divisional charts.

Iran — Lunar New Year 2005, 2006, 2007

2005 Data: April 9, 2005, 12:02:37 AM, 3 hours 30 minutes east of GMT, Tehran (51°E09', 32°N42' as read out in class).

The Government of the Year (2005)

• Lagna: Sagittarius.
• Lagna lord Jupiter is in the 10th house (Virgo) with Ketu, the 12th lord.
• The 10th house of government has Jupiter and Ketu. If a religious conservative party and a liberal party fight an election in this year, the conservative one comes in. In the US one would say a party like the Republicans.
• Jupiter is religious and righteous. Ketu is "a little headless".

The Person — from L10

• The governance is of the Jupiter-Ketu kind. For the person giving it, see L10.
• 10th lord Mercury is in Pisces. L10 is Sagittarius. Take it as lagna for the man who comes to power in the year.
• Mars in the 2nd (exalted in Capricorn): a very aggressive, warlike speaker. "He doesn't need missiles. He just speaks."
• Jupiter and Ketu in the 10th: religious, principled.
• The 4th is badly crowded: a man with no happiness.
• Sagittarius lagna: firebrand people. They have their own idea of dharma and follow it sincerely, with a lot of fire.
• A student confirms: Ahmadinejad came to power that summer.

War in 2005? — the Project Manager

• 6th lord Venus is in Pisces, so A6 is Capricorn, with exalted Mars in it.
• But the 6th house (Taurus) has no strong link with Mars, and its lord is Venus, a planet of peace.
• A student objects that Mars has rāśi dṛṣṭi on the 6th. He does (Capricorn aspects Taurus). But there is no planet in the 6th to carry out his agenda.
• When a house is empty, its lord is the strongest influence on it.
• Mars is the program manager for the project called war. Venus, the manager of the group that has to do it, says "War, why war? Just relax."
• Mars could work through a friend sitting in the house (Sun, say), or brainwash Venus if Venus were with him. Here the house is empty and Venus is "safely somewhere else", exalted.

"For a war, there has to be some confluence between A6, 6th house, and Mars."

• Judgment: no chance of war this year, despite all the talk.

Venus in the 4th with Sun and Rahu

A student objects that Sun and Rahu hammer Venus.

• Venus is the karaka of the 4th, exalted in the 4th. He gives sukha, comfort, a laid-back mood, peace of mind.
• Sun is the 9th lord here, a benefic and a protector. He does not want to mar that peace. If Venus leans towards his 6th house results, Sun keeps that in check.
• Whether Sun burns Venus depends on strength and on agendas. Where both want similar results, there is nothing to burn.
• Rahu may hammer Moon or Sun, but he does not mar the agenda of Venus. "Venus is his guru."
• So the country has some comfort and peace despite the other negative factors on the 4th.

2006

• The published class notes cast it for Tehran at 1:45:47 PM on March 29, 2006. The time is not read out on the recording.
• Cancer rises, the same chart as Israel, with the 8th lord Saturn in lagna. Not a strong chance of war.
• People were speculating that the US would invade Iran. It does not look like a great possibility in the coming year.

Example chart

• 6th lord Sun is in Pisces, so A6 is Libra, the 8th house of struggles.
• Gulika and Mandi are in A6: the sons of Saturn, who cause destruction.
• Mars has argala on A6 (he is in the 4th from it).
• A6 lord Venus is in Aries, a house of Mars, with the graha dṛṣṭi of Mars.
• The 6th house (Leo) has Ketu. Exalted Mars aspects it by both rāśi dṛṣṭi and graha dṛṣṭi.
• This time Mars has someone in the house to do the work.

"Ketu is like Mars. Mars is red and Ketu is infrared. … If Mars says, 'You fight,' Ketu says, 'How big an explosion do you want?'"

• Judgment: a good chance that hostilities break out after the New Year of 2007, involving Iraq, Iran, Israel.
• But Iran is not destroyed. Lagna has the 5th and 6th lords, Moon and Sun, forming a yoga, and lagna lord Jupiter is in the 9th protecting lagna. Iran is better placed than Iraq or Israel.

"Terrible things may happen to some other people because of Iran, but I don't see Iran being in big trouble in the next few years."

USA — Lunar New Year 2007

Data: the same new-moon moment at Washington DC (March 18, 2007, 10:43 PM daylight time). The class does not read the data out; only the lagna degree is given.

Chart

• Lagna: Libra, 16°07'.
• Mandi at 19° and Gulika at 10° are in lagna. Mandi is close to the lagna degree.
• 6th lord Jupiter is in the 2nd, a house of Mars.
• The 6th house (Pisces) has Sun and Moon, friends of Mars, and Mars has argala on it (11th from it).
• 6th lord Jupiter is in Scorpio, so A6 is Cancer. It has the malefic Saturn, with the graha dṛṣṭi of Mars. (Saturn and Mars do not get along.)
• The lord of A6, Moon, is in the 6th house.
• So there is some chance of the US being involved in hostilities.

Where the Trouble Falls

• Lagna and lagna lord are reasonably strong. The only blemish is Mandi.
• For the Middle Eastern countries the lagna itself is afflicted by the 8th lord. For the US only the 6th house is active.
• There may be some events in the US, but mostly the US fights "safely away from the shores". The theatre is the Middle East.

"Iran may not be troubled badly. Instead, at the end of it, Iran may gain in stature, whether we like it or not."